


Ananke

by KynesPeace



Category: X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Hydra (Marvel), Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-01
Updated: 2016-06-01
Packaged: 2018-07-11 14:23:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 33,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7056172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KynesPeace/pseuds/KynesPeace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Evie worked for Hydra because she thought they would be fighting for the good cause. Upon discovering their real purpose, she tries to bring Hydra down. After her failed attempt they put her into cryosleep so that her powers wouldn‘t be lost. Almost two decades later she awakes, but can‘t remember how she had gotten into that abandoned military facility in the middle of nowhere.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: This is my first fanfiction in English language and I would be most grateful for any suggestions for improvements, both language-wise and content-wise. I have only seen the X-Men movies and I don't know much about their comics, which is why I will probably change the canon plot so that it fits in with my story.
> 
> Rating will change in future chapters due to sexy times.
> 
> In ancient greek religion, Ananke was the personification of destiny, necessity and fate, depicted as holding a spindle. [...] She was seen as the most powerful dictator of all fate and circumstance which meant that mortals, as well as gods, respected her and paid homage. (wikipedia)

Prologue

_Somewhere in America, 1945_

When she was introduced to Hydra by her father at the age of 16, she was thrilled. He had told her marvellous things of this organisation. That they would be fighting for the greater cause, and that they were the only ones that would actually care for mankind. He also said that it would sometimes be necessary to take one's freedom if it was to ensure their lives. Only that with freedom they often meant death and with ensure their lives they rather meant ensuring that no one would be a threat to their plans of world domination. What a pathetic plan, but introduced in the right time it would certainly get its proponents. And that, it did. Founded in Germany with the rise of the national socialists, it has spread to the United States in just a few months' time. As the second World War began, they were already so powerful, that they had not needed any help of their "big brother" (who was Nazi-Germany) anymore and the members weren't applauding Hitler any longer but Johann Schmidt who was later known as Red Skull.

Evie Clarke played with the badge of honour in her hands. Engraved was the lake monster, Hydra, with its many heads coming out of the body that was way too small for the whole creature.  _Cut off one head, two more shall take its place. Hail Hydra!_ Evie had thought she knew better. You may not be able to kill the monster from the outside, as various people had tried, but kill it from the inside, and there will be no body for these heads. Her plan hadn't worked out. She contacted agents of the american army, which came out to be more problematic as she thought. Not only did she have to sneak away from Hydra without raising suspicion, but also did she have to gain the agents' trust. Which they didn't give her that easily. Justifiably, since she was one of Hydra's most precious weapons and she had helped Hydra in lots of missions. When they were sure she meant it, they were glad, however, for they had not only a mutant on their side, but had also gotten rid of one major enemy. They provided her with what she needed and sent her a few of their best agents and soldiers, but she was only a soldier of her own, without access to essential resources. They were foolish to think that only Evie working as a spy would be enough to infiltrate Hydra but when their ideas ran out, they tried nevertheless. It didn't work out.

They did manage to weaken Hydra, however, for Captain America, who was one of those soldiers, killed Red Skull who had become the only leader and most important person in Hydra-hierarchy. His death had shattered Hydra, but not destroyed it. Small groups had begun to form and as Captain America disappeared, Evie and the agents were afraid they had actually helped Hydra to grow. Having no leader, Hydra-members became harder to find, bases harder to track down and there was no face behind this whole organisation anymore. In other words, they had gotten rid of their only access to every corner of Hydra.

She had fled then, too afraid to stay because she didn't know if they would find her easier when she stayed or if she would attract even more terror attacks. She didn't want her newly found friends to die because of her. A foolish thought, she knew that, her friends were Hydra's enemies anyway, but she just couldn't stay for she knew they would go after her.

Evie put the badge in her pocket. She knew they had tracked her down, there was no way of escaping now. Well, there was, but she hoped to redeem herself. They wouldn't kill her, that she was sure of. They would imprison her and maybe she would get another chance to bring them down, better thought through this time. She sat on a bed in a motel when she heard them approaching. In great numbers, it seemed, because Evie could hear at least five military trucks. She readied herself and concentrated on her powers.

It took them a few moments to figure out which door would lead to her, but when they did, they wasted no time breaking through her door. The first row of them was greeted with a table throwing them back and Evie managed to hurl chairs and other things from her room at the next row of soldiers. One of them, however, accomplished to shoot her in the arm. She was inattentive for the blink of an eye which left her unprotected long enough for one of them to shoot her in the hip and another one to pack her and force her to the ground.

She closed her eyes when she heard another shot.


	2. Genetics

Chapter 1: Genetics

_1962, England_

It had just begun to rain as she climbed into the cab. The dark-clad woman quickly shut the door and readjusted her clothes after fastening her seat belt. The driver looked at her through the inside mirror, waiting for the direction. "Oxford University, please", she said. He nodded. "That'll be about half an hour." The driver started the engine and slowly rolled onto the street. They had plenty of time to her appointment because she wouldn't have risked missing it. Too long had she waited for this and too far had she come.

She rummaged around in her bag until she found that pack of documents that hold everything she knew of herself. When she opened the bunch, she saw an unmistakeable photograph of herself looking back at her.

It felt like a lifetime ago when she had found it in that abandoned military base where she had woken up.

_Painfully slow she came to her senses. It startled her at first, because she had no idea where she was nor how she got there in the first place. She was trapped in a massive box and it was freezing cold, but she couldn't find some kind of switch that would open the door. Panicking, she hammered at the walls and screamed for help, but to no avail. With more force, she kicked now against the door and with a crack, the door flew open, unhinged and landed a few feet away on a stone floor. Alarmed by the loud sound she just made, she backed against the wall behind her and listened a few moments. Hearing nothing she dared to take a look around. Besides the metal door on the ground, there were a tables with strange apparatuses on them. She felt a sudden pain in her head and thought it was better if she left this horrifying place quickly. Jumping out of the metal box she had been in, she realised it looked like some kind of a coffin, just that you're standing in it, not lying down. Attached to it were various cables and wires, some thinner than a necklace, others thicker than her thighs. It wasn't until then that she noticed she was stark naked. She had to find something to wear immediately or she would probably freeze to death. With soundless steps she reached the door on the other side of the room and slowly opened it, revealing a long corridor. When she was sure she didnt't hear anyone, she entered the hallway, avoiding any sound and being prepared to defend herself, if needed. She examined the other rooms, finding no soul, but at least a black uniform that fit her quite well. In another room, which seemed to be a lab or some kind of office, she found a wall full with pictures of a woman with short black hair, looking unconscious and wearing the exact same outfit as her. Various notes were pinned to the wall, dates, places, statistics ..._ where the hell am I _, she thought. Turning around, she looked into a glass wall and saw a weak reflection of herself. She was unmistakably that woman on the wall._

She had found other things that would ensure her survival for a few weeks, but there had been no one except for her, which she didn't know to be good or bad. Either way, she found out her origin. Born 1920 in New York, Manhattan, as Evie Clarke, she had worked for the same organisation as her father when she turned 16, which was 7 years after her so called "powers" showed. Which is why she was in this cab now, driving to a university to a thesis about genetic mutations. Because that's the word on one of the documents. Mutant. She figured out what they meant with power as she escaped the abandoned military base, and that's one of the few things she could really remember. Without the documents and the pictures of her in all those different years, she wouldn't even know her name. Whoever she was besides her name and the organisation she had worked for, she hoped that she would find an answer to that with the best clue she had. Searching this organisation had proven to be difficult. They had obviously abandoned her, putting her into cryosleep and then not caring enough to check if she was either dead or if the machine had enough power to keep her sleeping. From all she knew, there was no Hydra anymore or they were running under another name.

She had researched mutations then, but whatever there had been about this topic, it didn't explain the mutation that allowed her to lift a rock without touching it. The best lead she had found was an upcoming thesis of a young man called Charles Xavier about genetics. She had learned that his theory was much-discussed, but if she hadn't had her powers she wouldn't believe that specific mutations would give a human being an abnormal ability, either.

Seizing her pack, she paid the driver and exited the cab getting caught by a wave of rain. Evie made her way towards the building in which she would be listening to Charles Xavier's thesis about genetics.

_He's got to be a mutant, too_ , she thought. He couldn't know so much of  _possible_  mutations and be so very correct about it if it all was just a theory. As a professor he would probably teach other students, which would be a perfect topic for getting into a conversation with him, but Evie thought it would be difficult, walking up to him and saying that she could turn everything into chaos in the blink of an eye.  _It could be just a theory, maybe he isn't like me._  Maybe she was the only one, which would explain why they would freeze her to keep her alive for future generations and a more advanced technology, but then they wouldn't call it "Mutant" and give it a label with it if there weren't others.

Evie was waiting at the entrance - it hadn't stopped raining yet - for the professor. She hoped she could talk to him there, though she still did not know how she would approach such a conversation, there were hundreds of other people there and some of them would probably want to talk to him as well. She saw him exiting with an attractive young woman on his side, holding onto him. They were talking and Evie didn't see a chance to go up to them, but she saw another woman trying to follow them without attracting attention, which she failed, obviously. Evie took her as an example and followed the woman.

Evie sat at a lone table in a bar, where Professor Charles Xavier just emptied a funny looking glass of alcohol to celebrate his new title. The blonde woman that left the university with him hugged him and Evie could hear her saying that she was proud of him. They were probably very close.

Waiting for that other woman to approach the professor, she sipped at her drink watching them carefully.

Xavier got ready to go to the counter where Evie could see a blonde woman smiling at him, but he was interrupted by that woman from the University. He complemented her on her auburn hair and led her to a table where they sat down. Evie had trouble listening to their conversation, but she nevertheless understood that the woman was asking for his help.  _Maybe she is a mutant, too,_  Evie thought and heard the woman asking if these mutations that Xavier had talked about in his thesis might already have happened. With his right hand he reached up to support his head and looked at her in a drunken way. Evie couldn't really understand what they were talking about from that on, but it was definitely something about the mutations of his thesis. She was unsure of whether she should stand up and go talk to them or wait for whatever happened next. She watched them getting up and Xavier calling for his close friend and decided that if she didn't talk to them now she might never get the chance. That was easier said than done however, because the bar was more crowded than before and drunkards got in her way as she struggled to follow them. Exiting the pub finally, she managed to catch up with them. They were just arranging an appointment in three days in the CIA headquarters in Virginia. She was walking past them and caught herself looking them over as the professor looked her in the eye and knitted his eyebrows in confusion. Maybe he had seen her at the university and in that bar and was now suspicious as to why she followed him around. Evie quickly averted her gaze and tried to use her powers on him. She searched for his memories of herself to erase them, but she found it impossible to enter his mind without being close enough.

_She suddenly remembered, that she had always had problems with mental manipulation, it had always been way easier for her to manipulate actual things, lift or destroy them, because they were just easier to grasp. Someone's mind, however, was a miracle to her._

_She remembered her father training with her, he would let her wander through a prisoner's mind, gathering whatever information she could find. But it hasn't been easy for neither her nor the prisoner, because as soon as she would look into another's head, their minds and her's would intertwine and she would struggle getting herself out of it safely. It sometimes left the prisoners a babbling vegetable, which was why her father only let her take a look into a disposable prisoner's head. Evie remembered that she hated it, seeing someone else's most awful and happiest memories that she ended this procedure and concentrated on physical manipulation instead._

_She didn't hurt herself with this, at least._

Evie backed off and looked Xavier directly in the eyes as he stared at her, mouth agape. The other two women stared at him and asked him whether everything was alright. Evie panicked but managed to do a manipulation-trick that she did accomplish back then.

Xavier pointed at the direction in which Evie had stood, but as the two women looked that way, she was nowhere to be seen.

"I believe there is another mutant", Xavier said.

The women looked at him disbelieving but they hadn't seen what he had seen in that woman's mind.

 


	3. Meeting the Crew

Chapter 2: Meeting the Crew

_1962, Langley, Virginia, USA_

_Stupid,_ Evie thought. She had chastised herself in her mind since Oxford and hadn't stopped ever since. How would she find them now? Well, she knew they were at the CIA headquarters in Virginia by now, so the chance of finding them somewhere there was pretty high, but she had made a fool of herself right in front of the person she hoped could help her.

Either way, she was dead keen on contacting him. Now that she knew that the CIA wanted him for something, there had to be something very important about his thesis. And as she had probed his mind, she had remembered something of her past, not a joyful memory, but it was better than nothing.

Evie packed her things in her bag and checked herself one last time in the mirror. She had cut her black hair back to its original short length and wore something more fitting for a civilian. A brown leather jacket, black trousers and black shirt would do better than the military uniform she had found a few months ago back in that facility. Under her jacket she had buckled on a small dagger that she had found there as well. She didn't trust herself with her powers that much for she had no idea what Hydra had done to her while she was asleep. And because her powers had become a bit rusty.

Evie left her motel room and went to the car that she had rented at the airport. Throwing her bag on the passenger's seat she checked on a map where the CIA headquarters were. She hoped she wouldn't miss them.

* * *

"No, I told you, she'll show up. I've seen it in her thoughts." Charles Xavier, his sister Raven and agent Moira MacTaggert were waiting outside the facility after their conversation with the chief and a few other agents of the CIA. Charles was quite content with its outcome. When he ended his presentation and listened to director McCone making fun of him, he knew that they wouldn't believe him without proof, no matter how rational and comprehensible his theory was. He hoped they would see it when he told them what they were thinking about, but of course they wouldn't. You could see self-appointed mentalists on every county fair. Fortunately, Raven's mutation was on the outside and she could easily show them physically. The looks on the agents' faces had been priceless but then the chief thought they were some kind of freaks that needed to be kept somewhere safe. Luckily one of the agents was eager to help them and told them of his hidden facility somewhere off-site.

Charles agreed to that, but they would have to deal with something else before they moved into that facility. They had a lead to Sebastian Shaw, that man who was the reason why Moira showed up after his thesis to bring him and Raven to the CIA. As Moira investigated him, she saw him with other mutants, which Charles found fascinating, but she also found out that he threatened the U.S. army colonel Hendry into placing jupiter missiles in turkey near the russian border. This would start another world war.

"We're already waiting for an hour, if we stay any longer we will miss Shaw", Raven mentioned. Charles looked at his blonde friend, who he had been growing up with since he was twelve. He could see that she was as excited as him to meet another one like them, let alone another woman, but she was right. They couldn't miss this opportunity.

The others were already heading to the car, as Charles began to smile. "I knew you would show up", he said and turned around.

* * *

Evie did not know what came over her to finally step out into the light, but as she had seen them from her car waiting for something, she knew this was her chance. She was standing in front of the facility now, Professor Xavier looking at her and his friends stopping dead in their tracks to see whom he had spoken to.

She was taken aback by his words.

"It's alright, Evie, you're with friends now", the professor said. "Is that the woman you told us about?", the blonde woman asked. Xavier nodded his head.

_This is going to be very awkward,_  Evie thought. "How do you know my name?", she asked him instead of greeting them. He smiled and made a few steps towards her. "My name's Charles Xavier and I have a mutation that allows me to read your mind."

_So I have been right._  He held his hand out for her to shake it. Reaching out to shake his hand, she said, "Evie Clarke, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too." He hadn't stopped smiling and Evie wondered what else he knew about her. "I ... I need your help", she managed to get out. "I know, and I do want to help you, but we're pressed for time. Would you mind coming with us so we can get to know each other?"

Again, Evie was at a loss of words, she wasn't sure if she could trust them enough to blindly follow them to god-knows-where, but she didn't really have anything better to do. She shook her head. "That would be great."

They hurried to the car where Moira MacTaggert and Raven greeted her. The other man just said hello from the driver's seat and started the car. Raven seemed nice, she asked Evie a lot of questions about her ability but looked disappointed when Evie said she couldn't really show her her powers. "I don't really want to hurt anybody. Where are we heading to, anyway?"

"We have a lead as to where another mutant is, his name's Sebastian Shaw and he wants to start another world war", Moira explained.

Somehow this name rang a bell in her mind, Evie just couldn't find which one that was. She averted her glance to look at her hands and seemed lost in her mind. "Is everything alright?", Raven, who sat next to her, asked. Evie supported her head on one of her hands and nodded. "I haven't told you why I need your help, yet", Evie said looking through the mirror. "Why do you even trust me?"

"I have looked into your mind and did not see any bad intentions", Charles answered. "So you know why I came to you?"

"I already knew back in Oxford, when you followed us out of the bar and tried to get into my mind."

"Oh, yeah, sorry for that." He smiled at her, saying she didn't need to apologise. He had wandered trough her mind as well, after all.

"Well okay, but what about those of us who can't read minds?", Raven said.

Evie smiled back at Charles before she explained her matter. "A few months ago, I woke up without any memories. The only clue I had was on a few documents about me, most of them treating my special abilities, so I searched for someone who knew something about mutations. Charles' thesis was my best guess then."

"Don't you have any family? Look, I mean I understand that you can't remember a thing, but haven't you looked into an address book? Or weren't you at a police station? They would have found your family." Evie saw Charles watching her for an answer, which he probably knew by now. "Well, it's not that easy. I didn't wake up in an apartment or something similar. I woke up in an abandoned military base in northern Russia." Raven's mouth formed a surprised 'O', Evie seemed to have made her speechless. Moira turned around from the front passenger's seat and looked questioning at Evie. "There I found the documents I told you about. I don't know if they're telling the truth, but I don't think these things are made up."

Charles spoke up. "In Oxford, outside of that bar, you remembered something as you probed my mind, no? I could see a memory showing up in your thoughts."

Evie nodded. "Yes, I had a memory of my father. Of ... how he used to train my abilities." She could see the question forming on Raven's face, but they were abruptly interrupted by that man in the suit Evie still didn't know the name of.

"We're there."

* * *

They were all standing on deck of the US Coast Guard, drawing closer to the ship on which they would find Sebastian Shaw and the other mutants. Moira had told them what they looked like. The blonde woman could turn into a crystalline version of herself, one man had long dark hair but Moira hadn't seen what his powers were, the other man looked like the devil, with red skin, a tail and all. Evie couldn't really believe Moira but Charles had confirmed that she has seen such a man. She had said his name was Azazel and that he could teleport. Evie wasn't really keen on meeting them as foes.

_"_ _This is the US Coast Guard. Do not attempt to move your vessel. Stay where you are."_  Evie didn't believe the mutants would give a damn. If they were as powerful as Moira had described them, then they had a narrow outlook. And they didn't even know of all their powers.

Evie was standing next to that suit-guy and looked over his shoulder to catch a glimpse of Charles who tried to analyse the situation on the other ship. That proved to be difficult, because he was almost a head taller than her.

"I've lost Shaw. There's something blocking me", Charles said and Evie could see him touching his temple with his index and middle.  _So he's doing that when he's reading minds._  "This has never happened to me before. I think there's someone like me on that ship."

"Like you?", Moira asked. Charles turned his head to her. "I'm sorry, a telepath. This is incredible. I could actually feel her blocking me. I'm very sorry, but I don't think I'm gonna be much help tonight. You're on your own." If the situation hadn't been so tense, Evie would have started laughing at his excitement. Moira on the other hand looked quite puzzled.

"Can't you do something?", suit-guy asked and turned around to look at Evie but she shook her head. "That's too far away, I'm sorry."

They could see motorboats driving towards Shaw's ship, but what happened next, made them all baffled. All of a sudden whirlwinds began to form and darted towards them, flipping the boats over.

"Oh, my God!"

"Jesus!"

They were ushered to go inside, but as they were descending the stairs, Charles stopped them.

"Stop, stop, stop." He gave a small cry of pain, touching his temple. "Charles! Are you okay?", Moira asked worried. Charles looked at her. "There's someone else out there." He quickly opened the door and went back on deck. Following him, he pointed at the water. "There."

Evie followed his direction and saw the anchor of Shaw's ship as well as the chains lifting themselves from the water as if they were weightless. The anchor was crashed into the ship and destroyed half the deck, only to fly up again and tearing the upper level apart.

Evie couldn't see another person as Charles had said there was.

However, a submarine was starting from under the destroyed ship and was coming closer to the US Coast Guard.

"Let go!", Charles began to scream and now Evie could see someone in the water being pulled by the submarine.

"You have to let it go!" Charles was holding onto the railing. He turned back to Moira and suit-guy. "You've got to put someone into the water to help him. Let it go! You have to let it go!"

The person in the water didn't listen to him, however, or maybe couldn't hear him. He had problems staying overwater and was soon pulled under the surface. Charles ran across the deck as the person disappeared under their ship and Evie ran after him, not knowing what to do, and saw Charles jumping into the water.

Evie could finally free herself out of her shock and reached with her powers for the submarine. It was already too far away for her to grasp it. She couldn't see Charles nor the other person in the water and followed the ray of lights from the spotlights. She was relieved when she saw their heads appearing on the surface.

"We're here!", she heard Charles scream.

* * *

Evie was standing a little offsite with Raven, who was a little seasick, and watched Charles and the other man being pulled out of the water. Evie had explained Raven what had happened when she was under-deck trying to get her stomach together. "Just bend over the railing when you feel the need to ..."

"Yeah, I won't vomit on you, don't worry", Raven said and smiled at her. She then began to choke in Evie's direction and started to laugh as she quickly stepped back a few feet. "Ha ha, very funny." Evie laughed anyways. It felt good to be talking friendly to another person without the intention of wanting something for a change.

"I'm wondering where this goes", Raven started but didn't continue so Evie enquired what she meant. "The CIA did want Charles' help, I just don't understand where they want to go with us."

"We'll soon find out."

"So you'll stay with us?", Raven asked hopefully. "It's just ... I have always been just with Charles and I'm sometimes missing another friend. Most of all a female friend."

"You're not ...? I mean, I thought you two had something ..."

Raven huffed. "No, he can't think of me that way. It's probably because of my actual looks."

Evie furrowed her brow. "What do you mean?"

"I normally have blue skin, red hair and yellow eyes. I'll show you when we're somewhere more private."

"I would be delighted." Evie watched the crowd around Charles and the other man, but she couldn't see any of them.

"But to come back to your question: I think I will stay at least for a while. You have been nicer to me than I have been to you, I mean, following you around. And even if I have any family left, maybe they're part of the reason why I was in that military facility. And you're like me, that's already more than enough reason to stay with you."

Raven's broad grin made Evie smile as well. She hoped they would become good friends. Raven wasn't the only one who could need one.

"Look, they're coming towards us", Raven pointed at Charles and the man he had just saved from drowning. They were both covered in blankets and talked with each other.

"Allow me to introduce my sister Raven and our friend Evie to you. Raven, Evie, this is Erik."

Erik shook Raven's hand but as he turned to Evie, he stopped dead. "I know you", he said. "But you haven't changed since, what the hell are you?"

All of a sudden, she had a dagger to her throat, he didn't touch it, however. Feeling for her hip, where her dagger should have been, she realised that the one at her throat, was hers.

"Hey, hey, hey, calm down, Erik!" Charles touched his shoulder but he wouldn't let go of that dagger.

"Whatever I have done in the past, I can't remember it. Please tell me what I have done to you."

Charles had his fingers at his temple again and Erik let the dagger down, bringing it back to its sheath at Evie's hip.

"You haven't changed, how is that possible? Last time I saw you was 1944, and you looked exactly like you do now."

That didn't answer her question but she was eager on what else he knew about her. "That makes sense, considering the documents I told you about earlier said I was born in 1920 and I was put into cryosleep 25 years later. I haven't aged from then on." Erik looked dumbfounded, but that was reasonable. He had more or less just seen a ghost.

"But what have I done to you?"

"Nothing to me personally, but I've seen you talking with someone who has done something to me."

"Who are you talking about?" Evie was growing anxious.

"Sebastian Shaw."

 


	4. First Conversations

Chapter 3: First Conversations

_1962, somewhere in the USA_

Before driving to that offsite facility, Evie stopped at her motel room to fetch her things. She had brought Raven along, who would fetch hers and Charles' things from their rented room in their hotel. The night had been quite eventful, and all they had wanted to do was sleeping, which is why they would meet early in the morning.

"Is everything alright, Evie?", Raven asked her as they waited at their previously arranged meeting spot in their car for the others to show up.

"I don't know. I'm thinking of what Erik said."

"But that was another you."

"I still worked for the bad guys. A few months ago I would have done everything to get my memories back. I'm not sure if I still want them." Raven put her hand comfortingly on Evie's shoulder. "We'll figure something out, don't worry. Erik's already apologised for his rash reaction, I don't think he'll hold something that you don't even know of against you. None of us can picture you as a bad person." Evie smiled thankfully. "Thank you, I appreciate your concerns."

Raven was smiling sweetly when something came into her mind. "I promised you earlier that I would show you what I really look like. But please, don't be shocked."

Evie assured her that she wouldn't be scared by her looks, whatever she would look like.

She was a little surprised though when Raven's hands began to form into a bluish pattern which spread to her head. The white in Raven's eyes was now yellow and her hair was shorter than before, red and slicked back.

"I don't really know why I should be frightened. Raven, you look gorgeous." Raven blinked a few times and smiled looking at her feet. "Thank you", she muttered, biting on one of her lower lip.

They were interrupted by dimmed lights that they could see in the exterior mirrors. Raven immediately turned into her everyday-form with blonde hair, As the car came closer, they could see it was the others. Their car roared to life to follow them.

* * *

"Welcome to my facility", suit-guy said as they got out of the cars. It surely was an offsite base, they had been driving since 7 a.m. and it was now already midday. "My mission has been to investigate the application of paranormal powers in military defence", suit-guy continued.

"Or offence." Evie was walking behind Erik who know waited for a response of suit-guy. "This guy Shaw, Schmidt, whatever you want to call him, he's working with the Russians. We might need your help to stop him."

Evie looked at Raven who now had the answer to the question she had asked earlier on the US Coast Guard.

"Marvellous", Charles said. He had his left hand in his pocket and was walking in between Erik and suit-guy. "So we're to be the CIA's new mutant division, yes."

"Something like that."

They entered the building and went straight into a big lab, the replica of a plane hanging in the middle of the room.

"It's a supersonic. The most advanced plane ever built. You should see it in real life. It's incredible."

Moira stared at the replica, seemingly impressed by it, while the others were rather interested in the man in the lab coat. He looked like a typical scientist.

Evie stood next to Charles and Raven as suit-guy introduced them to the scientist. "Hank, these are the special new recruits I was telling you about. This is Hank McCoy, one of our most talented young researchers."

Charles went right up to him, holding his hand out for the scientist to shake it. "How wonderful. Another mutant, already here." Hank's smile died and he looked at Charles, shocked. "Why didn't you say?", Charles asked suit-guy. "Say what?"

Charles' smile died like Hank's had. "Because you don't know. I am so, so terribly sorry", he said apologetically to Hank. The scientist looked at him, shaking his head as if it was no big deal.

Suit-guy went up to him. "Hank?"

"You didn't ask, so I didn't tell", he answered, averting his eyes. Evie wondered just how many mutants there were actually.

Raven spoke up. „So, your mutation is what? You're super smart?"

"I'll say", Charles answered for Hank. "Hank here graduated Harvard at the age of 15."

Evie caught the way Hank looked at Raven. He seemed to be stunned by her. "I wish that's all it was."

"You're among friends now, Hank. You can show off", Charles said. Moira and Raven had joined suit-guy, Charles and Hank which left Evie and Erik alone a little offside. They both looked excitedly at Hank who was undressing his shoes. He revealed his feet, which looked like the ones of an ape.

Charles chuckled. "Splendid."

Evie could see how long Hank looked Raven in the eyes. She couldn't see her expression, but she heard her laughter. Hank smiled and looked away shyly.

"I'm sorry", Hank said and positioned himself under the replica. It didn't even take him a lot of effort to jump up and hold himself headfirst with his feet. They all began to laugh. "Ta-da!"

Raven went to him, and admired his ability. She was quite close to him as their faces were on the same level. "You're amazing."

He exhaled. "Really?" Raven smirked at him.

Evie looked at Erik who had raised one eyebrow at that scene and smiled.

* * *

They spent their day exploring the facility after eating lunch together. Raven had gone off with Hank, earning a smirk from Evie. Erik had gone god-knows-where, suit-guy was busy with business, Charles had excused himself earlier and she didn't know where Moira was.

Which is why Evie wandered the endless corridors all by herself. She had gone lost, though. Evie knew she had started in the room that was some kind of lounge. She had taken the door to a floor that she had thought would take her outside, which it didn't, however. She had found herself in a floor with offices on each side.

She found a water dispenser and got herself a glass of cold water to kill time.  _Someone will come by, eventually._

"If you want something to drink, you can just go to the kitchen."

Evie turned around to look at Moira who was just closing the door to one of the offices. "I would love to if I knew where that was."

Moira chuckled and joined Evie's side. "I know where it is, I'll show you."

"Thats very kind of you, thank you."

Moira led her back the exact same way she had come to the lounge and took another door, which of course also led outside. They were alone in the kitchen as Moira made herself a cup of tea. "Want some?", she asked Evie.

"Yes, thank you."

"So ... is your mutation like Charles'?"

"You can compare it, yes, but it's not really the same. He reads minds, and communicates with them, but my mutation is more about changing something. Whether it's lifting something from it's original place or crushing it."

"But you can also do something with minds as well, don't you? You did that in Oxford."

Evie bit her lower lip. "Yes, it was stupid of me to do that. I don't really trust my powers and if he had been someone else I might have seriously hurt him." Moira nodded and handed Evie her tea. They made their way towards the table and sat down.

"We can be glad then that he's a telepath", Moira said and had a smile on her face. Evie was under the impression that she was fond of Charles.

"But have you seen Hank and Raven? I bet there'll be something going on between the two of them in the next couple of days", Moira said smirking. Evie grinned. "The look on their faces when they left lunch together!"

The two women started laughing.

As they had calmed down a bit, Evie sipped at her tea. Moira looked into the distance and as she looked back at Evie, she could see that the agent had a question burning on her tongue. "What is it?"

"You really don't know who you are, do you?"

"Well, I have told you about the documents, that and the memory that I got when I collided with Charles' mind is all I have. Why do you ask?"

Moira put her cup on the table. "I might be able to help you, the CIA can get a lot of information and I'm sure your involvement with Hydra has left a few marks in history."

Evie furrowed her brow. "How …?"

"Charles asked me to help you with this. It will all be top secret, you don't have to worry that something's going to come back at you."

Evie had a puzzled expression on her face. She would have never dared to think about getting help so easily.

"I don't want to cause you any problems."

"You don't. I have a few tricks up my sleeve. So do you agree?"

"I ah ... yes, of course."

Moira smirked. "I'll start right away with my research."

"I don't know what to say ... thank you so very much."

Moira lifted her hands. "I haven't found anything yet."

"But still, it means a lot to me."

They turned around as they heard another person entering the kitchen. Charles looked surprised when he laid his eyes upon the women. He wore something different as he did when they arrived. He had discarded himself of his jersey and wore only his shirt. He had rolled up his sleeves and his hair looked like he just came out of bed.

"Good evening, my ladies. How fortunate that I find you here, Evie, I wanted to speak with you. May I borrow you?", he asked with his scottish accent. Evie looked apologetically at Moira. "I wanted to go anyway." Moira stood up, but before she exited the room, she looked back at Evie. "I'll inform you right away when I find something."

Evie nodded. "Thank you very much."

Moira smiled and left the lounge, nodding at Charles who was going to fetch himself a glass of water.

"I should probably thank you as well, hm?" Evie didn't need to explain herself, Charles already knew what she was referring to.

"I told you I would help you, but that's not why I wanted to talk to you." Charles joined Evie at the table and sat across from her, where Moira had sat just a few moments ago.

Expectantly, she waited for him to continue.

"In Oxford, outside that bar, when you tried to get into my mind, I did the same with you. I tried to find information about you, who you are, but you blocked me. I did manage to get that memory of you and your father, however." Evie could see where this was going. "I think that if we try that again, under more comfortable circumstances this time, we might be able to pull your memories from your subconscious mind into your conscious mind." He waited a moment for her to say something, but Evie wasn't sure what to respond. "I would understand if you don't want that. You seemed pretty confused back then."

Evie released short laugh. What an understatement. She had panicked and messed with all their minds to get away from there, but she hadn't known them back then. She already was more relaxed now.

With his lips slightly apart, he waited for her response.

"I do want to get my memory back. At least I think I want to."

"You're referring to Erik, aren't you?" Evie nodded. "I think I have done terrible things back then. But I also think I should know. Whatever I have done, I should take responsibility for it." She didn't look him in the eyes when she said that. "I won't think any less of you, Evie, nor will any of us."

Evie frowned and looked at him now. "How can you say that? You don't know me."

His expression was sympathetic, but also apologetic. "I have read you mind, and I am very sorry that I did that, but I have seen what you want and who you are now. You are not a bad person, Evie."

She cracked a smile. It meant very much for her to hear this from someone who she knew meant it. He had seen her mind, if anyone knew it, it was him. "I am not going to read your mind without your permission again, and should you decide we should give it a go, then just say a word and I will stop immediately."

Evie nodded. "Let's do it."

Charles beamed. "Fantastic. Would you like to start now?"

"If you have time." Evie finished her tea and brought the cup to the sink.

"We should go somewhere more private though, I don't want anyone to walk in. Let's go to my room."

* * *

Charles tried to make the situation as comfortable as possible for Evie, because he knew that what she was about to experience would probably scare her. It won't be much fun, anyhow.

Evie sat on the couch in his room, legs crossed and watched him as he explained what he would do. "As I said, I will stop immediately when something's off. Just relax yourself, it will be easier for both of us then."

She nodded. "Alright."

"Alright." He sat down next to her. She turned to him and switched her position so that she sat cross-legged. He as well sat with one leg under him so that he could look her in the eyes. Charles lifted his hand to his head and touched his temple with his index and middle, as he always did.

"Are you ready?" Evie nodded.

_They were looking at a big world map, some areas were painted in different colours and patterns. Evie was standing next to her father as they listened for their next instructions. "Oh, and Clarke." The man was addressing her father, they never really talked to her directly. "I want you and your daughter there as well. There she will prove if she's worthy of becoming a full-fledged member."_

_"_ _Of course, Mr Schmidt. Just say the word and she will do whatever you want." Schmidt looked pleased at him and then at his daughter._

_"_ _That will be all, then. Hail Hydra!"_

_"_ _Hail Hydra!"_

_Schmidt left the room and so did most of the other members._

_"_ _Have you understood everything he wants you to do?", Evie's father asked. She nodded and played with the hem of her clothing._

_"_ _But, Dad?"_

_"_ _Yes?" He waited for her to continue but it took her a lot of courage to speak of her concerns._

_"_ _I am not sure if I want to do it."_

_Her father had been prepared for her worries. She had showed more doubts than usual lately. "My dear, we have been waiting for this chance all this time, you can't back away now. Don't you want to make me proud?"_

_A pained expression made its way on her face. "But it has never been about killing someone." Her father exhaled deeply. "Alright dear, come with me."_

_They were in a dark, terrifying room. In the middle of it, Evie could see a chair with a lot of strange apparatuses to it._

_She somehow felt like she had been there before, but she couldn't really remember it._

_"_ _Sit down", her father said and led her to the chair. She didn't question her father, she never really did, so she sat down._

_Other men were coming into the room. Two of them were tying her wrists and ankles to the chair as her father told her to calm down. He pressed her upper body back and put something between her teeth. Her hands began to tremble. Something cool was brought down to her face and an agonising pain spread through her body._

Evie jumped and dragged whatever had touched her to the ground.

* * *

Charles had seen the pain in her memories before her and wanted to soothe her, so he laid his hand calmingly on her arm.

He should have figured that she would react that way. She had been raised as a soldier, after all and old habits died hard. Even if they were lost in subconsciousness.

Charles now found himself on the ground, between coffee table and couch, hands wrapped tightly around his throat and a body pressing him down. "Evie, it's me", he choked out.

Realisation made itself visible on her face and she winced back. "I'm so, so sorry." She leaned back against the wall and avoided his eyes. "It's nothing, don't worry about me. Are you alright?"

She nodded slightly. "I think so. I think I remember more than ... whatever that just was, I just ... I can't get it together."

"May I help you?", Charles asked. Evie nodded her consent. He again touched his temple and reached into her mind. Calming her, he tried to organise the images as best as he could.

"At least we know now that I wasn't the cold blooded killer I feared I was." Charles cracked a smile for her.

"What they did to you is awful."

She didn't say anything and he wasn't sure what else to add, so they sat there for a few moments in silence. Looking at the clock, she quickly stood up. "We should go to dinner now."

Charles stood up as well. "Go ahead, I'll join you there." He smiled sympathetically at her as she left his room.

He felt pity for her, she was a lost soul, her character had been broken several times. He just hoped she decided to stay with them. Charles was sure they would be able to cheer her up, give her a family that they all needed, actually. Then there was Raven, she made him worry as well. Her latest concerns about her body were gnawing on him because he had initiated them. But he had seen the way she had looked at Hank earlier, maybe he could help her getting more comfortable with her body.

And thankfully she wouldn't try to hit on him out of desperation now. It was just that he couldn't think of her that way, she was his sister, it just felt wrong. Maybe that was why he had problems with seeing her naked. He just felt responsible for her.

He shook his head and adjusted his clothes to leave for dinner.

* * *

Evie had overheard the conversation between Hank, Raven and Erik and waited at the door to which the latter was heading now.

"Now, that was mean", Evie said. Erik huffed as he walked past her.

"But I agree with you. They shouldn't wish to hide themselves."

Erik didn't say anything, but stopped a second in his track, however. He continued on his way then.

A moment later, Raven came towards her. She seemed annoyed, to say the least. "Don't say a thing."

Evie had actually wanted to talk with her about her body issues, but she saw that this was probably not the best situation. She made a mental note to herself that she would approach Raven about that topic anytime soon, however. Hank seemed to be a nice guy, but he shouldn't support Raven's insecurities.

Evie followed Raven to the dining room.

 


	5. Cerebro

Chapter 4: Cerebro

_1962, somewhere in the USA_

"Shaw's got some friends. You could do with some", Charles grinned as he turned around to get back into the facility. He had seen Erik's plans earlier in his mind. Erik had wanted to go after Shaw on his own and Charles knew that this would have been a suicide mission, so he had waited at the entrance of the facility to talk Erik into staying with them. And as far as he knew, he had succeeded.

It was around midnight as he reached his room and got ready to go to sleep. He reached out with his powers and was satisfied as he felt Erik's presence back inside. As he averted his powers, however, he could feel someone being in distress. Charles had expected that their bringing-her-memories-back-session would affect Evie even after they ended it. He stopped in his tracks and tried to get into her mind. The sleeping quarters were all nearby so the distance wouldn't be much of a problem.

She was restless, different emotions and images flying through her thoughts as if her mind was on a roller coaster. He attempted to calm her, which wasn't an easy task, but he managed to stop her panic and find some better memories of her past. He was surprised when he found remembrances of her as a child with her father, peaceful memories that he wouldn't have thought her father would have been capable of being a part of them, after he had seen earlier what her father had been like at the end.

Charles focused on pulling that memory into Evie's conscious mind so that she would have peace for the rest of her night.

* * *

The next morning, Raven came to Evie to inform her that they would be going to meet with the others in the backyard soon and that she needed to get up.

"You slept well?", Raven asked laughingly.

"Better than ever", Evie said and jumped out of her bed. "Just get dressed, I'll make you something for breakfast."

Raven left Evie's room and heard her friend shouting a "Thank you" after her.

* * *

"I call it Cerebro", Evie heard Hank saying as they climbed the stairs into the radar station.

"As in the Spanish for 'brain'?"

"Yes."

Evie marvelled at the technical equipment and the apparatus in the middle of the room. She walked over to stand next to Charles, right in front of the railing around that apparatus.

"Okay, so, the electrodes connect Charles to the transmitter on the roof. When he picks up a mutant, his brain sends a signal through a relay and then the co-ordinates of their location are printed out here."

Charles went forward to inspect the apparatus which looked like a helmet with lots of cables and wires attached to it. It kind of remembered her of the metal box back in that military base in which they had kept her.

Evie joined Charles' side. "Impressive."

"You designed this?", Raven asked.

"Yeah."

Charles walked around the barrier and put that helmet-thing onto his head. "What an adorable lab rat you make, Charles", Erik said and wandered around the railing towards Evie who had gone a few step back towards the outer railing. "Don't spoil this for me, Erik."

"I've been a lab rat. I know one when I see one."

Raven now joined Erik and Hank checked the apparatus on Charles' head. "Okay, great. Are you sure we can't shave your head?"

"Don't touch my hair", Charles warned monotonously. Evie grinned.

"Okay." Hank walked back to his technical equipment and pushed some of the buttons. Charles meanwhile closed his eyes. They were all watching him expectantly. Raven seemed to be worried, but Evie was sure his mind could take it.

The helmet turned blue and the equipment sprang to life, making weird noises.

Suddenly the helmet lit up white and Charles cried out, bracing himself on the railing. They stepped back, but were soon relieved as Charles opened his eyes and exhaled.

Charles started grinning which was when they knew he could actually see other mutants. Evie was curious. How many of them were there, after all? The machine started to print and they began to laugh, relieved of their worry for Charles' safety.

* * *

Erik and Charles would leave tomorrow for recruiting the mutants that Charles had found through Cerebro.

Evie had decided that it was safe enough for her to explore the area around the facility. She wasn't sure why, but she somehow had the wish to go jogging, maybe she had liked to do that before cryo.

She dressed into something more comfortable and left the building to jog through the surrounding forest.

Evie contemplated how the last days had turned out. She was glad that they had taken her in, but she also knew she could thank Charles' ability for that. But then again, they were all very nice to her, even though they didn't see what Charles had seen. Evie hadn't had the chance to talk to Hank yet, for he was mostly busy with his scientistic stuff, and also with Raven. And Erik, of course, but Evie didn't know how she should approach him. She wasn't really sure he wanted to talk with her, anyway.

"It's not easy to get one's freedom here, no?" Startled, Evie stopped in her tracks to look at Erik who as coming closer to her from her right side.

"Hello to you, too", she responded quietly.

He stopped in front of her, but not so close that she had to crane her neck so that she could look him in the eyes. "I'm sorry, I actually wanted to apologise to you for my behaviour back there on that ship."

"You already did. But thank you anyway."

Erik smiled. "I know I did, but I wanted us to start anew. As in: forget that first impression and let's act as if we had just met."

Evie furrowed her brow. "Are you serious? You've talked with Charles, no?" Erik smiled and lifted his hands in the air. "He was the only one who could have persuaded me. I believe him when he says you mean no harm. But you better don't make anything to convince me otherwise."

She could hear the warning in it, but his facial expression didn't do anything to make her feel threatened so she smiled as well and shook his hand. "Evie Heather Clarke."

"Erik Lehnsherr."

They didn't say anything for a few moments, which made the atmosphere a little awkward for her. "I know this isn't your favourite topic to talk about, but could you tell me what you know about me?", she asked.

"I overreacted then, I don't really know you. You talking to Shaw is actually all I know."

"Was someone with me then?"

He thought about that for a moment. "Sure, there were a lot of people with you, but I couldn't describe anyone of them. That feels like a lifetime ago."

"Of course, I didn't want to bring back bad memories."

He slightly shook his head. "No harm done. I wish I could give you more, but I will have to leave that to Charles and Moira."

Evie frowned. He laughed and crossed his arms over his chest. "News spread very fast here."

"I see."

Evie was still quite taken back by how easy it actually was to talk with him. She wondered what Charles had said to him.

"So what exactly are your powers?", she asked. She had seen what he had done with the anchor, and later with her dagger which she had stored in her bag in her room now, but she still wasn't sure what else he could do.

"I manipulate metal."

"So you can, for example, also turn a coin into a necklace?"

He laughed. "Why? Do you have something special on your mind?" Evie shook her head and laughed with him.

"No, I mean I've seen you lifting that anchor, I just wondered if you can actually create something out of metal."

"Well yeah, I can, but it's not that easy."

She nodded her understanding. "Yes, I know that feeling."

He cocked his head. "What do you mean?"

"I've read about my powers in some documents I found in a base where I was kept for the last years."

"Yes, Charles has told me."

"And they also said that I would be able to heal minor wounds with them, but every time I try it, I fail."

Erik looked sympathetically at her. At first he didn't really want to believe Charles that she was a good person, but actually she had more in common with him as he thought. They had both been victims to almost the same system.

"I'm sure with some training you'll manage to get that back. You have gained back some of you memories with Charles, no?"

She nodded. "I have."

Erik smiled softly and was suddenly unsure what else to say. "If you want to, I could help you."

Evie cracked a smile. "Thank you." Again, silence fell over them.

"So, do you care for another round? I've just started before I ran across you." Evie was glad for that offer. "After you."

* * *

After her memory session with Charles, Evie restlessly wandered around in one of the many hallways. It hadn't been as depressing as yesterday, but it still took a heavy toll on her. She wasn't really a telepath, but she could still feel him when he was rummaging in her head, and it sure was not a pleasant feeling.

* * *

"Please, Raven, could you check on her? I think she needs a friend." Raven cocked her eyebrows. "Has something happened?"

Charles shook his head. "Nothing worse than yesterday, but she seemed more restless after it. Just show her that she's not alone", he pleaded with his sister.

"You don't need to beg, she already is my friend. Why don't you go, though? Or haven't made her stay with you if you have already sensed something was off in the first place. You're not that shy around women normally." Charles rolled his eyes. "Raven, please. Or should I tease you about Hank."

"Don't you dare." Charles laughed as Raven turned around to look for Evie.

* * *

"There you are."

Evie looked up to see Raven standing at the door to the lounge in which she had made it herself comfortable just a few minutes ago. "Here I am. Feel free to take a seat."

Raven went towards the sitting area and sat down next to her.

"Are you alright?", Raven asked.

"I guess. It's confusing. More confusing than knowing nothing, actually." She exhaled deeply. "I don't know if I'm a murderer. Or worse."

"But that's better than knowing you are. There's still the chance you are not." Evie gave out a short laugh. "Always looking on the bright side, I see." Raven smirked along with her.

"I think that I have done something like that, though. I know that I've been taught how to defend myself, and I know how to use a gun. And then there are ... scars. Most of them look like they're from bullets."

Raven stared at her, shocked. "I am so sorry."

"Don't apologise, it's not at all your fault. I just, even if I cannot remember a situation in which I have seriously hurt somebody, I can't imagine myself, with my education and powers, to not have done anything as I have received those injuries."

"You don't know that." It was a weak consolation, but Evie appreciated it all the same.

„Ugh, let's talk about something else. So you and Hank, eh?" Raven needed a moment to adjust to their new topic.

"That obvious?"

Evie laughed. "I don't have to be Charles to know what's on your mind." Raven let herself fall back and covered her eyes with her arms. "You don't need to be ashamed. It's quite the distraction in these times."

"I'm glad that I can entertain you. But what about you? I've heard you and Erik had a nice afternoon."

Evie was petrified. "How the hell?"

Raven cackled. "Charles."

"Oh god, living with mutants proves to be a heavy request. But god no, we were jogging and that was basically the first conversation I had with him after he tried to cut my throat. Ugh, no."

"He is handsome, after all."

Evie shuddered. "He sure is. But even if I don't remember whatever type I liked, he isn't someone I'd like to ..." She stopped, not knowing how to continue.

"Alright, alright. Let's drop that", Raven said.

Evie remembered the mental note she had made to herself last night after she had heard Raven and Hank's conversation.

"I wanted to talk with you about something else, actually."

"Start right away."

Evie had to formulate what she was about to say. It was a delicate matter, after all.

"I overheard you wanting to change your appearance without using your powers." Evie could see Raven's expression hardening. She had to be careful. "I won't tell you what to do. Erik's right, however. You shouldn't try it, you both shouldn't."

"You have no idea what it feels like to look like a freak. Your powers are in your mind, you don't need to yearn for normality."

"I meant no offence. You're right, I do not know what it feels like to look different, but it's not like we don't have to get along with a lot of shit as well." Raven huffed. "Just like Charles."

Evie could sense that there was more to it. She probably had fought with him about this before. "I trust that Hank is a brilliant scientist, but please, don't try something out that you don't know the effect of. Don't change yourself for someone else."

"Funny that it just was you who wanted me to do something."

"I want you to be whoever you want. Look, I know we don't know each other for that long, but you're my only friends. Just, don't do anything stupid."

Evie wasn't sure if she should stay, or if she should leave Raven alone now. "I won't."

"I'm sure of that. But excuse me, I'm feeling rather tired. Have a good night." Evie smiled comfortingly at Raven and left the lounge and with it the tense atmosphere.

Raven covered her face with her hands. Evie had been right. She had changed a lot for other people. Before meeting Charles, she had always been naked, or well, it wasn't really nudity in her case, but she had never worn any clothes. As she met Charles and they had grown up a bit, he had wanted her to wear something, and so she did, even though she hadn't understood why he had felt uncomfortable with her in her natural form. And now that she had found someone with a similar mutation, she had to change herself again. She had wanted it as well, but actually she didn't feel as uncomfortable with her natural body as others seemed to. Except for Evie and Erik, that was.

How she hated this hide and seek.


	6. Project Ananke

Chapter 5: Project Ananke

_1962, Washington, D.C._

The next few days were less eventful for Evie. Charles and Erik had left for finding the other mutants and Raven and Hank spent quite a lot time with each other and she had problems entertaining herself.

Evie hadn't heard anything from Moira as well, she hadn't even shown up for quite a while. Suit-guy was there all the time, but he was often too busy, and Evie didn't really want to distract him, so she waited until the first recruits showed up.

Angel seemed to be nice enough, she didn't talk to Evie a lot, though. The second mutant that came, however, was quite another matter. Darwin always had a smile on his face and always had a witty response for everything on his tongue; he was one of those people you just can't hate. Alex Summers - they said he had been in solitary confinement - was a nice person as well, but Evie sometimes hears him making fun of Hank, which she didn't like at all. The last person Charles and Erik brought in, Sean was his name, was the youngest of them all, almost a kid. Evie didn't know what their powers were, she had chatted with each of them, but none really liked to talk about their mutation so Evie didn't enquired.

After her talk with Raven about her body issues, she wasn't sure if Raven had been pissed, but then she had talked with Evie as if nothing had happened at all, so she took it Raven had forgiven her.

Charles and Evie continued with their memory-sessions. After their third meeting, Charles suggested that they could do something nice for a change, because they hadn't had a real conversation yet. All they talked about was her memory loss or sometimes they talked about what they were going to do with this whole Shaw-thing. And yet he knew everything about her - or rather whatever she remembered, but that was still everything she knew - but she had no idea about his background. Evie had naturally accepted his offer, she was interested in getting to know him better, though she wasn't sure why he would waste precious time he needed for preventing third world war.

After she had voiced her concerns, he had assured her that they wouldn't waste any time. They agreed on playing chess on the steps of Lincoln Memorial. He did that with Erik quite often as well.

It was easy to talk with Charles, he always had something on his tongue if the silence became too awkward, and he always knew how to formulate his sentences so his conversation partner wouldn't feel uncomfortable.

Evie liked as well that he didn't mention anything about her past, not that there was much for him to ask, but others often addressed basic things of personal life that Evie just didn't know yet.

"I have never really asked whether you want to help us with Shaw and I am very sorry that I got you involved in this mess." It was Evie's move, so she waited with her answer until she had placed her pawn.

"If I didn't want to help you I wouldn't be here now. And, after all, it's the least I can do for you. Thank you for taking me in." Evie looked at Charles who had yet to make his move and saw him smiling sweetly at her. "You were a lost soul and one of us, I am glad that I could help you and that you came to me. I don't want to think about what would have happened if you went to the wrong people." He made his move while he spoke and waited now for Evie. "They could still be after me." Charles raised one of his eyebrows. "Hydra, I mean. Just because we can't see them doesn't mean they don't exist." Charles looked sympathetically at her. "I don't think they search for you, they did leave you in that facility, and it was abandoned, you said."

Evie sighed. "I hope you're right."

"And you have us, they can't rival so many mutants." She was thankful for his comforting words, though she still wasn't sure if she really wanted them to protect her. Whatever she did when she was with Hydra, she didn't want it to affect her newfound friends.

She averted her gaze to the lake. The silence between them started to become awkward, but she didn't know what else to say.

"I came here once with my parents, I think I was six." Charles knew so much about her, he thought it would only be fair if he told her something about him. "My father used to work a lot, so we rarely did something together, but if we did, he would take my mother and me far away from home to spend some time with us without his work being somewhere near."

"Sounds like your father cared a lot about you and your mother." Evie smiled, she somehow was happy that he has had a caring family.

"Oh yes, he did. My mother, however, did not."

"I'm sorry", she whispered.

Charles smiled charismatically. "It feels like a lifetime ago, almost as if it was another life. But it was actually a good childhood. I had lots of friends, and living in a mansion isn't really that bad."

"And then you met Raven?", Evie asked.

"Yes, that was after my father's death, though. She snuck into our house in the middle of night. I awoke from it and tiptoed to our kitchen with a baseball bat in my hand. And there I found my mother, completely dressed and styled. She offered to make me some hot chocolate, and that was when I knew that couldn't be my mother. She had never made hot chocolate for me. She would have rather called our maid."

Evie laughed. "That's funny but also very sad."

"True." Charles laughed along with her.

They continued their game of chess and he told her other things of his childhood. Mostly happy memories of the time after he had found Raven that night in his kitchen. There were hilarious stories of them when they were younger. It was mostly Charles who had gotten them into those situations, and most of the time Raven who played a grownup or sometimes a policeman to get them out of their misery.

"We should head back", Charles said as it started to darken. Evie nodded and helped him packing their stuff together.

As they returned, Moira waited for them right at the entrance. "I have found some information."

* * *

They were sitting in one of the offices. Evie had agreed that Charles and Raven were there, too. They were the people who she trusted most, and since she did not know what she was about to find out of herself, she thought it might be better to have some kind faces around her.

"I have managed to get this information directly from Hydra. One of our agents found them in another abandoned facility in the south of the Soviet Union. I am sorry that I have read them, I just wanted to be sure that these documents are truly about you, because they used code names everywhere."

Evie leaned forward as she listened to Moira, supporting her head with her hands. "What code names?"

Moira sat at a desk, the other three of them on a couch at the other side of the room across from her. The documents that held the information of Evie's past lay in front of Moira.

"There are lots of reoccurring names, but what they use when the talk about you, is 'Ananke'."

Evie furrowed her brow. "What does that mean?" Charles, who sat on Evie's right side, spoke up. "Ananke is a greek goddess. She is the personification of fate and destiny. Though it is not plainly stated if she is good of bad, the legends tell that she is very powerful, and if I remember correctly, they use 'dictator' to describe her."

"What Charles says is true. Hydra chose this name because of their intentions for you. Your father, who had worked for Hydra from the beginning, brought you into their ranks after he was sure you were able to control your powers. One of the generals, later their leader, Johann Schmidt, took a great interest in you. He arranged extra training for you so that they could get everything out of you. These pages are diary entries of your progress throughout your training." Moira pointed at one of the piles in front of her. "They also say you were trained as a soviet assassin."

"And was I an assassin? Have I killed people?"

Evie could see Moira swallowing and looking down at her hands.

"Their plans did not involve you to be an assassin. They merely wanted you to be their super weapon in an extreme case."

Evie shook her head. "You avoid my question. Don't pamper me, I can take the truth." Raven, meanwhile, grew noticeably nervous next to Evie.

"Schmidt provided you with test subjects to train your powers on living objects. There are records of people that became insane afterwards, as well as killed subjects." Raven's breath caught.

"How many?", Evie asked.

Moira pointed at one of the biggest piles, it was maybe 50 pages thick. "These are the killed subjects as well as those that were unable to live on their own afterwards."

Evie surprised herself by how calm she was, but who was she kidding. She knew all along that she had blood on her hands. "But that's not everything", she said.

Moira shook her head. "I'm afraid it's not."

Charles raised his hands. "I think that is enough for today, we should continue another time." Evie shook her head vehemently. "No, I want to know. Who am I?"

Moira sighed. "There are well over 200 missions in which your name appears in any way. I don't know though how much you were actually involved."

Evie stood up now, too tense to stay seated. "Do you know why they froze me?"

"Yes, there are detailed descriptions of the process. At the end of the second World War, you began to question Hydra's intentions." Evie nodded. This wasn't new information for her.

"They used a technique of brainwashing you, but their equipment wasn't advanced enough to keep you in their track. Maybe it was also because of your mental powers that they did not succeed. However, as they understood that they couldn't hold you down, they wanted to put you into crystasis. You though, managed to flee. You joined the U.S. army's ranks, where you worked with Captain America. After he had killed Johann Schmidt, also known as Red Skull then, Hydra was believed to be dead, but in reality they were growing. They managed to track you down then."

"Why didn't they kill me?"

"Most of all because they thought they could use you in the future, when they would invent better equipment to manipulate you. But they also wanted you for experiments for another project, similar to yours."

Evie frowned. "Another mutant?"

"As far as I know, he wasn't like you. He worked for the U.S. army alongside Captain America. After a mission, he was believed to be dead. Before that mission, though, Hydra had already had their hands on him, experimenting on him. That's probably why he survived that mission. He didn't step into light the years following the second World War. But recently, the CIA has found two assassinations that would fit in with the descriptions of him."

"So there is someone very dangerous out there working for Hydra and they can just freeze him so that he won't age and won't be detected by any agency?"

Moira nodded. "Hydra has never been destroyed and it seems to be impossible to wipe them out."

Evie sneered.  _"Cut off one head, two more shall take its place."_


	7. Code Names

Chapter 6: Code Names

_1962, somewhere in America_

_Onethousandtwohundredfortyseven._

Evie looked down at the papers in her lap. She had read each of the names on these pages and how exactly they had perished. Some of them died due to a disfunction of their brains. Some were left with paranoia, schizophrenia or madness that they somehow ended themselves. They hadn't been of much need anyway after she had been done with them. She was needed to be trained on people she could encounter on the battlefield, not in an asylum.

That wasn't the worst, though. It was terrifying for her to see all those names, it surely was, but she couldn't blame anyone else for her doings, as the others did. Raven blamed the system, the phenomenon of how good and simple people could be turned into killing machines, if the right buttons were pushed at the right time. Charles blamed her father. He knew everything about him, how he had raised Evie to be dependent on him and how much she had craved for his attention and his acknowledgement. It had been only natural for her to do whatever he had asked of her, if only for a little recognition.

Evie didn't have the luxury of blaming anything else anymore. Charles hadn't read her mind after yesterday, so he didn't know. If he did, he would probably be terribly frightened and then be imbued by hatred for her.

At least that's what Evie felt. She remembered now, bits by bits were coming back to her, she couldn't catch every little thing, but she had the overall feeling now, of who she was. Or who she had been.

Good thing was though that she had control of her powers back, she knew what she could do and how. At least the sacrifices didn't go to waste that way.

"I know I'm not the best person to talk about that with you, but the others are crushing their heads thinking of what to say to you, so here I am." Evie looked up from her lap to Erik, who was standing at the entrance to her room, leaning at the doorframe.

"I hope you're not here to take the blame from me."

He laughed and stepped into her room. He sat down next to her on the bed she was currently sitting on.

"Even if there is someone else to blame, that won't undo the deed. I hope I don't offend if I ask what exactly you've done since the others won't tell me."

Evie handed him the pile of papers. "These are the names of people I have killed. Most of them to train my abilities."

Erik looked through the pages. "The rest of them?"

She shook her head and he understood.

"Do you regret it?"

"I do now, I did not then. What does that make of me?"

Erik exhaled and put the papers away. "That's up to you. I'm not Charles, he probably has better responses for you, but what happened is in the past. If you ever wanted a second chance, this is it. You won't get a better one to redeem yourself."

"Thank you, Erik." She met his eyes with a smile. "Always a pleasure."

He left her then and she packed all the papers into one big bundle and stored them in a bag. She didn't want to look at them ever again.

* * *

Evie was sitting lonely in the kitchen, sipping her tea and reading the newspaper she had found there on the table, as Raven came to her. "There you are. I've been looking for you. Would you like to join us in the lounge? I thought we all could get to know each other better."

Evie looked up at Raven who wore a black dress and a reddish scarf. Evie always wondered how she managed to combine her clothes so perfectly. "I would of course also understand if you don't want to, but it will be fun." Raven smiled sweetly at her.

"I'd love to join you." Raven beamed as she heard her response and took her hand to drag her to the lounge where the others had already gathered. They were chatting but as Raven and Evie entered, they stopped and stared at the two women. Evie wondered if they knew of her past. But then again, who would have told them. Evie's worries vanished as they started to chat again just as before, she must have misinterpreted their reactions. Raven handed her a glass of coke and then joined Hank on the couch. Evie sat down between Darwin and Angel on the other couch. Sean and Alex were sitting in armchairs.

Evie nipped at her coke as Raven spoke up. "We should think of code names. We're government agents now, we should have secret code names. I want to be called Mystique."

"Damn! I wanted to be called Mystique", Sean exclaimed. They all gave out a short laugh. "Well, tough, I called it", Raven said. She turned into Sean in front of their eyes and looked at the original Sean with challenging eyes. "And I'm way more mysterious than you." Sean jumped back, startled by how even her voice sounded exactly like him. They all clapped and Raven turned back into her normal self. Well, the blonde white girl she usually walked around as.

"Darwin, what about you?", she asked quickly.

"Well, 'Darwin' is already a nickname, and, you know, it sort of fits. Adapt to survive and all. Check this out." He stood up and walked towards the aquarium. He leaned down and put his head into the water. Immediately, gills began to form. He opened his mouth and they moved as if he was breathing like any other fish. He turned his head to look at them and they applauded. The fish in the aquarium were a little startled though.

"That was incredible."

"Thank you. What about you?", Darwin asked pointing at Sean and grabbed himself a napkin.

"I'm going to be ... Banshee."

"Why do you want to be named after a wailing spirit?", Hank asked.

"You might want to cover your ears." Sean stood up and they all did as they were told. He kneeled down in front of the coffee table. He aimed at the glasses, and then opened his mouth. The big window that covered the whole wall fell into pieces. They were all shocked for a moment but then started to laugh. Evie wasn't sure how they would explain this mess to suit-guy later. But she did enjoy herself there among the others.

"Your turn." Sean pointed at Angel.

"My stage name is Angel." She took off her jacket and turned around. Evie could see some kind of tattoo an her arms and back, but then the tattoos were lifted off of her skin. She had wings. "It kind of fits."

"You can fly?", Raven asked amazed. Angel spread her wings which looked like those of an insect. Angel nodded. "And ... um." She leaned back a bit and spit at the statue in the garden. Thanks to Sean she had a clear shot at its head. As her spit-ball hit the statue, it ignited. Smoke ascended from it.

"What's your name?", Angel asked and and put her jacket back on. Hank averted his eyes, ashamed.

"How about Big Foot?", Alex suggested and smirked.

Raven glared at him. "You know what they say about guys with big feet." She looked down at his. "And yours are kind of small."

"Uh." Evie smirked at Raven and nodded.

"Okay now."

"Alex, what is your gift? What can you do?", Darwin asked.

"It's not ... I just can't do it. I can't do it in here."

"Then do it out there", Darwin proposed.

"Come on! Alex! Alex Alex!", they started to chant.

He finally stood up and climbed out of the broken window. "Get down when I tell you." He positioned himself a few feet away from the statue. They stood up and waited eagerly. "Get back." They all stepped back a few feet, but didn't really hid themselves. Alex sighed but started anyway. He moved his body as if he had a hula hoop around his waist, and red circles began to form. They smashed into the statue and tore it in half. The cut surface burned now.

They applauded and laughed. "What about you?", Alex asked and looked at Evie.

"Oh, well, I can't really show it, it's not that interesting."

"Oh come on, tell us", Darwin said.

"It's telekinesis and manipulation of minds as well as things and cells."

"Not interesting? That sounds pretty cool to me."

"So you can heal?", Angel asked.

Evie shrugged. "It's not that easy."

"So what will we call you?", Darwin asked and they all stood there in silence for a short time.

Evie thought about the name Hydra gave her, but she didn't want to be called like that now. She wouldn't take anything from then into her new life.

"What about Lethia?", she asked them and looked into their questioning faces. "Lethe is one of the rivers of Hades. When dead people arrive in the underworld, they would drink from it to forget their previous lives." She looked at Raven who smiled at her.

"Well, that's a cool name", Sean said.

They went back to the lounge and discussed the remaining code names.

"Okay but what for Erik? Metal-Man?", Sean asked and started laughing. "That's terrible." Evie shook herself to emphasise her point. "What a nightmare of a name."

"Magneto", Raven suggested. They all nodded. That was definitely better.

Sean stood up and whirled around excitedly. "And Charles is ... Mega-Mind." They cackled loudly. "That's even worse than Metal-Man." Evie hold her stomach, it was almost hurting to laugh so much.

"He'll be Professor X", Evie said.

"That's cool. Why 'X'?", Darwin asked.

"Well, his name is Xavier, and wasn't it the X chromosome that's mutated and gives us our abilities?"

They applauded and continued laughing and chatting. Evie did enjoy herself.

* * *

Evie sat at the bar, drinking wine now. She watched Alex hitting Darwin, but his skin has turned into something scale-light and it didn't hurt him at all. "Come on! You can go harder than that." She laughed but went rigid when she saw Erik, Moira and Charles approaching them from the garden. Everything looked like a mess. Hank was hanging headfirst from the ceiling, Angel flew around, Raven was dancing on the sofa and then there was Alex hitting Darwin with a stick.

"What are you doing?", Moira asked loudly. Evie felt like she was a little girl now, being scolded by her parents. They all stopped what they were doing and Hank jumped onto the coffee table. Evie tried to avoid Charles' disappointed expression.

"Who destroyed the statue?", Moira asked.

"It was Alex", Hank said. Evie jumped from her stool and concentrated on the upper half of the statue. She put it back onto the other half and made the metal intertwine. The statue looked now as if nothing had happened, Evie had even fixed the burned head from Angel's attack on it. They all looked at Evie now, but no one said anything about it.

"No, Havok. We have to call him Havok. That's his name now", Raven said. "And we were thinking, you should be Professor X and you should be Magneto."

They were excited as to what they thought about their code names.

"Exceptional", Erik said and turned around to leave them. Moira shook her head and stared at Evie as if she was the only one there. Well, she was the oldest, that was for sure, but Evie didn't see why she should not be allowed to have a little fun. Especially because Moira knew of her past.

They looked at Charles now, whose eyes were scanning each of them. "I expect more from you." He left them as well. They stood there in silence until Evie fixed the broken window.

"Should've done that sooner", she said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: next chapter will have the first actual scene of Charles/Evie in it


	8. We're a family now

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warnings: There will be blood and some dead people, but nothing heavy and no major character death

Chapter 7: We're a family now

_1962, somewhere in America_

Erik, Charles and Moira had left shortly after their scolding. Evie had overheard that they actually intended to bring them (which included Evie, Raven and the other recruits) along to Russia, where Shaw would meet a russian general. After their little display that evening though, they had agreed on leaving them in the CIA's facility. Evie wasn't sure what would happen next with them, after the others would have returned form Russia. After all Shaw was the reason why Erik and Charles recruited them in the first place.

Evie knew Charles was a good person and he would rather die than leaving someone in need alone, but she couldn't shake off a slight feeling of anxiety. She had no security in this world. Since her awakening, everything she had relied on was her search of mutations. Then she had found Charles and now the task was preventing another world war.

This was yet another thing she thought about a lot lately. Well, since her memories came back. Everything she knew about this world was these few months after waking up, and since she hadn't had much contact to anyone other than Charles, Raven and the rest of them, that was all she knew of other people. Other than that she only knew war and strict obedience, though she had struggles seeing all of this in a bad light. Of course war was terrible, her mind wasn't that messed up that she would say anything else, but she saw it as something necessary. Sometimes nicely put words and contracts just couldn't solve everything. Especially if the opponents were not keen on coming to an agreement.

After all she could be happy that she woke up without memories. She imagined how disturbing it would have been if she woke up with her mindset still drilled on war even though the world around her hasn't seen such terror for almost two decades.

Evie poured herself another cup of coffee as she sat in the kitchen. She has been there all morning, brooding over everything. She had been deeply ashamed after their display of yesterday, that Erik and Moira now thought of them as a bunch of little kids was bad enough, but Charles' scolding expression had felt like a burn on her skin. She, most of all, should have known when to stop. Such a childish behaviour was nothing she was accustomed to, so she should have been able to tell when they had begun to be off their limits. They were agents now, for god's sake!

Directly after Erik, Charles and Moira had set off for Russia, she had unpacked the documents Moira had found for her. Evie hoped to find a hint why Hydra might have left her in that facility. She was a powerful mutant and they have had their use of her, after all. So far, she hadn't found anything, but what piqued her interest was that she had found traces of her father everywhere. This was no surprise though, he had been with her all the time. Evie asked herself whether he was still alive. He would be around sixtyfive now. And he would probably know why Hydra had abandoned her, but Evie decided she wouldn't go search for him on her own. She would be stupid to do so.

"Hey broody", Raven greeted her and sat down extravagantly next to her, a cup of hot coffee in her hands.

"Morning", Evie replied and smiled at her friend.

"You can't fool me with this fake grin, Evie. I know you've been here all morning. What's on your mind? Do your worry about Charles? I know, he looked quite pissed yesterday, but he will forget about that soon."

Evie sighed and stirred her coffee even though she was drinking it without milk or sugar. Raven put her hand on Evie's wrist to stop her. "It's not that poor coffee's fault. But honestly, Charles won't hold it against you. He was young once, too. Well, he still is, actually." Raven swayed her head as she thought about their age gap, which wasn't that great.

Evie laughed then. "You forget that I'm actually older than all of you. Born 1920, remember?" Raven laughed then, too, and let go of Evie's wrist. "Alright, grannie."

Evie shook her head. "I could be your mother." Raven grimaced. "Oh god no, don't you ever say that again." They took a few moments to catch their breath again and were then joined by the rest of them. Darwin was the first to enter. "Hello, ladies. Have I missed something?" He grinned and poured himself the last bit of coffee that Evie had prepared. "Luck's on my side today."

"Only until the others ask who's gotten the last cup", Raven said and stood up. Darwin took a seat opposite of Evie and sipped his coffee cheerfully. "So we're having the day off, now?", he asked no one in particular.

"It's not like we have been busy the last few days." Evie shrugged and stared into her half-empty cup.

"Does anyone know when they'll return?", Darwin asked then.

"Charles said if everything is going well, tomorrow morning", Raven answered as she leaned on the counter. Hank entered the kitchen now as well and hummed a 'morning' before he yawningly joined them at the table. Evie caught Raven smiling gently at Hank who didn't seem to notice it. Darwin started to joke about yesterday as Sean and Angel joined them as well. Sean complained about having to make new coffee and glared at Darwin who twitted him. They started chatting about random things, just like yesterday, and Evie began to wonder how none of them had to worry about any friends or family to miss them. As far as she knew none of them had contacted anyone. But then again she could understand, they were all alike and mostly had similar backgrounds. They had probably needed to abandon their families to either protect them, as she could imagine it was with Alex, or to keep their secret hidden from them.

They didn't know each other for long, but because of their messed up lives, they have somehow become a family, they didn't have to pretend to be someone they were not around each other.

* * *

Evie hadn't heard any news all day from Charles, Erik and Moira and she hoped their espionage hasn't gone wrong.

The mutants had spent their day more or less together, after their little gathering in the kitchen in the morning, they had scattered all over the facility. At lunch they had all agreed on watching a movie together in the afternoon, they had found a video cassette recorder in the lounge with a few movies from the last years. It took them long enough to decide on a movie, though. In the end, they watched a horror movie from Hitchcock from 1960. Evie had caught how nervous Hank had become right at the intro, but fortunately Raven had sat next to him and managed to assure him that this was only a movie. Evie grimaced at that.  _Reality was way worse, to be honest._

After the movie, Evie retreated to her room, being with her friends was great, but she felt like she needed some alone-time. Spending time with others was tiring for her and she didn't want to leave a false impression of herself. She had to promise Raven that she would return to them later, though.

Evie sighed and sat up in her bed. She couldn't really rest when so many thoughts invaded her mind. She put on her black pants and a simple black shirt. Raven had tried to make her wear things more fitting for the time and her new status as a more or less normal woman, not a soldier anymore, but Evie had refused. She liked Raven's outfits greatly, but they were nothing for her, not yet anyway.

Reluctantly, she walked over to suit-guy's office to ask him about any news from Russia. She knocked on the door, but nobody answered. Tentatively, she opened the door, but as expected, the office was empty. He had either already gone to bed or was in one of the other offices or conference rooms. Feeling guilty, she quickly shut the door as if she got burned and turned around as if to make sure no one had seen her.

All of a sudden, she heard a loud bang. She had an uneasy feeling, so she took the next door that led to the garden. Evie knew the other mutants were currently in their lounge so she could see them through the massive window.

As she walked through the door, she looked to the direction where the others were. They all stood there as clueless as her, but Evie saw them looking into the sky so she followed their sight. She couldn't really identify what exactly she was seeing above, but it was two persons that were stuck there in the air. Then one of them disappeared in a red cloud and the other one fell down rapidly. Without thinking much about it, she reached out with her powers and grabbed the person with it, slowly bringing them down onto one of the roofs nearby. She heard another bang directly behind her and saw the other mutants behind the window yelling in terror. Evie turned around and saw an agent, dead, lying there. She wasted no time and searched the sky for other agents falling down, some of them she managed to bring down safely, but whoever put them there, was working too quickly for her to locate them fast enough. The saved agents gathered now in front of the window and screamed at the mutants to stay put. Evie wanted to rush to them, but a red puff of air directly in front of her made her stop. It was that devil-mutant of Shaw.

Evie panicked. If he was here, Shaw was probably as well, which didn't mean anything good for Charles, Erik and Moira. But she didn't have time to fall to her panic, because the agents yelled at her to get down so they could shoot Azazel. She jumped to the ground and heard the all too familiar sound of shots being fired. Unfortunately, they didn't get to the person they were aimed at. Azazel appeared in front of one of the agents and aimed his gun at the other agents. He managed to shoot two of them and to shatter the window to the lounge before Evie had a chance of stopping him. This turned out to be a rather difficult task though, because he just vanished if the situation became too tight for him. She ran towards the agents and regrouped with them, grabbing a gun on her way. This was something she was familiar with, fighting with a gun in her hand was almost as easy as using her powers. Azazel appeared out of nowhere behind them and killed another agent with blades in his hands now. He reached for Evie as well, but she was quick enough to step back. Trying to get a hold on him with her powers, she reached out for Azazel, but no matter how hard she tried, he would always slip out of her grasp. She understood she couldn't do much with her powers now, so she used her knowledge of combat skills.

Evie tried to get close to him, because every time she fired at him, he would just teleport somewhere else. To catch him off guard, she hoped she could make him feel not threatened by her gun, so he would stay in one place and she could get a hold on him. Her plans were disrupted though, because an agent shot at Azazel from the other side of the garden. Evie glared at him for his incompetence but dragged him towards her with her powers nevertheless, because she could imagine Azazel would have popped out behind him. More agents were coming now and she saw that with them in the way she had no chance of getting to Azazel. She wouldn't have time to concentrate on him if she also had to watch out for ten other people. Then she was reminded of the others and looked into their lounge. They looked back at her, shocked, but none of them seemed harmed so she put her concentration back on what was in front of her.

"Get back!", she yelled. "You all need to get inside! I have to fight him alone!" Some of them caught what she meant and headed to the next door. The others either hadn't heard her or were too stubborn to believe that she could handle the situation on her own. She yelled at them again, but was soon stopped by Azazel, who stabbed another agent right next to her. Evie tried to concentrate her powers in such a way that she would be able to pull the agents out of danger if Azazel popped out next to them. What she didn't take into account was her own safety though, so Azazel took her by surprise as he appeared behind her. Evie whirled around but was greeted with one of his cold blades in her stomach. With a shocked expression, she looked at him as he eased the blade out of her and she fell on her back, clutching her abdomen. She could hear a scream in the distance.

After a few moments of utter shock, awful pain set in. She tried to get her breathing back to normal so that she could focus on her wounds, not her emotions that were close to paralyse her. She knew what Hydra said about her powers, she could heal for god's sake, and now was the perfect time for her to do just that. After a short shooting that ripped through her ears, everything became silent. She feared for her friends, but reminded herself of the more important task now. Worrying won't help them, after all.

She was interrupted once again, as an agent tried to be the hero of the day only to be stabbed by Azazel shortly after and falling to the ground right next to Evie.

She could feel the pressure of time weighing her down, but so far, she made progress. She was too numb to actually feel how much of her insides were injured, but the pain was fading and she didn't feel like losing conscience. She made her skin grow back together sloppily. It would suffice for now. She moved her head so that she could see what was currently happening. There were four people with their backs to her, one of them she thought was Angel. One was without doubt Azazel. Another one joined them, Darwin. She didn't understand what was happening, but then there was a loud scream and something red was thrown in their direction. They all stepped back towards Evie, only one was staying where he was, holding out his hands and Evie couldn't believe her eyes as she saw that man pretty much  _absorbing_  the red flash.

Evie pulled herself together and got up to protect Darwin and Angel. Her stomach hurt now again, but she didn't mind it.

The other had noticed her and they stopped dead in their tracks. In the corner of her eye she saw Darwin approaching the man who absorbed the flash, but then stepping back towards their lounge.

The man now looked at her and smiled. "Clarke's little girl, huh? I didn't think I would see you again. I thought they had killed you."

"Shaw", she spat out through gritted teeth. But before she could say anything else, they were gone, Angel with them. She looked sadly at Darwin, whose eyes had gone wide as he saw her bleeding stomach. He as well as the other srushed to Evie's side, but Azazel did have a good aim and since Evie has never been good with healing anyway, she hadn't noticed how much blood she had lost through the process. The blood loss finally caught up with her and she fell to the ground.

* * *

The next morning, they were all sitting outside of the facility and waited for Charles, Erik and Moira to return. It had turned out that Shaw hasn't been in Russia where they had waited for him, so Evie's worries had been unfounded. Evie had awoken only a few hours after she had passed out. Turned out her healing skills were better than she had thought, or her body healed on itself faster than any human's would. She didn't even need blood transfusion or stitches, but a scar would remain there for now. She couldn't complain, she didn't really care about another mark on her body, as long as everything inside of her was still working. It also turned out that she had saved suit-guy and a lot of other agents, even though it hadn't looked like this yesterday. Darwin had thanked her a thousand times, he said without her interruption, Shaw would have most likely killed him. Evie hadn't really accepted his thanks, however, they had still managed to capture Angel. Raven had explained then that it has been her decision, and Darwin had merely wanted to force her into staying, which hadn't worked out in the end.

Even though Evie had insisted that she didn't need any further medical aid, Raven had insisted on playing her nurse. She had helped her getting washed and dressed her in loose clothing because she had feared anything else would hurt her. Evie was thankful for her help, even if she didn't need it. It felt nice to have someone care for her.

Finally, their car arrived and Charles, Erik and Moira stepped out. Charles immediately walked over towards Raven and hugged her relievedly. He then looked at Evie. "Are you alright?" She nodded. "I'm fine."

"We've made arrangements for you to be taken home immediately", Charles addressed them all now.

"We're not going home", Sean declared.

"What?" Charles frowned and looked at him disbelievingly.

"He's not going back to prison." Sean looked at Alex. "They took Angel and almost killed Evie", Alex said.

"All the more reason for you to leave. This is over." Evie's heart sank at that into the ground below her feet. Charles sounded strict, as if he wouldn't take any objections.

"Charles, some of us don't have any home left", Evie said quietly. She couldn't accept his command just like that.

"And we want to get rid of that bastard. This isn't over at all", Darwin said. It dawned Evie that Darwin didn't take the loss of Angel very well, he had risked his life for her stupid decision, after all.

"I can't let you walk into your doom, I'm responsible for you", Charles said but Evie could see how his walls were coming down.

"We are no kids anymore", Raven said and Evie chuckled at that.

Charles turned to Erik for help. "Shaw has an army, we need ours." Evie nodded. Erik was right. No one could face Shaw and stand a chance, except for them.

Charles sighed. "We'll have to train. All of us. Yes?"

They nodded their agreement. "Yeah."

"Well, we can't stay here", Hank mentioned. "Even if they reopen the department, it's not safe. We've got nowhere to go."

They looked at Charles, who smiled. "Yes, we do."

* * *

It took them a few hours drive to their destination. But when they reached Charles' mansion, they were all taken aback for a moment.

"This is yours?", Sean asked disbelievingly.

"No, it's ours", Charles answered. Evie looked up at the giant mansion.

"Honestly, Charles. I don't know how you survived, living in such hardship", Erik said jokingly.

"Well, it was a hardship softened by me", Raven retorted and stepped forward to Charles, who gave her a quick kiss on her head.

"Come on, time for the tour", she said then and led the way. The others followed her and Evie started to go with them as well, but Charles stopped her. "Start without us, we'll join you."

Charles waited until he and Evie were alone and turned to her then. "I wanted to apologise, I haven't thought through what I said earlier. Of course I would have taken you with Raven and me, don't ever think that I would leave you behind. I'm so sorry for -" Evie interrupted him. "It's alright. I know you're a good person, that's why you wanted to send us home in the first place." She smiled reassuringly at him. Evie could see that he still felt bad for earlier, so she placed her hand on his upper arm and tried to soothe him. They were standing quite close to each other and Evie discovered that she was almost as tall as Charles.

"It's fine, really. I'm a big girl, you don't have to worry." He cracked a smile then and she dropped her hand.

"But there is another reason why I wanted to talk to you in private. I know that you think of you as a monster, I have seen it in your mind. But no monster would do what you did last night. Evie, you're a good person. You could have easily killed Azazel and been done with it, but you protected the agents and you tried to deal with him without injuring him heavily."

"You say that as if I've saved everyone, but that's not true. Half of them are dead."

Charles shook his head. "And without you, that half would be as well. And Shaw would have killed Darwin and maybe the others as well. You give yourself too little credit. I'm proud of you." He smiled and spread his arms to pull her into a hug. That came unexpected for Evie, but she adjusted herself quickly and put her arms around him. She didn't know how long it had been since she had actually hugged anyone, so she enjoyed the feeling of it. "You are a good person, Evie", Charles said and gave her a gentle kiss to her forehead.

That took her off guard, but he didn't give her any time to figure out how she should react. "Let's go find the others, Raven would be mad if I kept you from her tour."

Dumbfounded, she followed him into his mansion.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: It's not much of a romance scene, but I don't think Charles would rush into seducing Evie as he does with other women. And as to that fight scene: I have come to like suit-guy and I hate unnecessary deaths, so if Evie has the opportunity to save him, who am I to keep her from doing that. That's also why I didn't let Shaw kill Darwin, he's a nice guy, and I bet there would have been a lot of fun in Xavier-mansion with him ... and as I said, I hate unnecessary deaths (we're all looking at you, Quicksilver (from Avengers Age of Ultron, not X-Men of course)) so deal with it *insert that emoji with sunglasses here*


	9. Training

Chapter 8: Training

_1962, Westchester County, New York_

Evie was amazed by how huge this place was. It was even bigger on the inside than she had imagined. She tried to memorise all the floors and rooms Raven showed them, because she knew that as soon as she was alone there, she would be lost forever. It was almost ridiculous how bad her sense of direction was, but it had never really been important for her to know where to go, so she hadn't minded.

The Xavier mansion had enough rooms for everyone of them, they did not have to share, and most of the bedrooms where shattered all around the mansion. Raven had explained that such a big manor was build to host many different guests which all had high expectations of privacy, so the mansion was divided into different sections. Darwin, Sean and Hank were located on one side of the lower level, Moira, Hank, Alex and Erik shared the section of the level above, and Evie, Raven and Charles had their rooms on the upper level. Raven and Charles naturally took their former rooms, and Evie moved into the bedroom that had belonged to Charles' mother and stepfather. Raven had told her so when she showed her her room while everyone else was busy getting their stuff into their rooms. Evie didn't ask any further, Charles' family matters didn't concern her after all, but she made a mental note to maybe ask him about it later.

"I have no idea how long it has been since I've slept on a bed as comfortable as this." Raven laughed at that. "If you ask me, I would say that Charles' is more comfortable."

Evie's chin dropped at that. "What-"

„Oh, come on, I've known Charles for a very long time now, I can tell if he likes someone. And believe me, he has never been this decent around a woman before." Evie cracked a smile, but Raven didn't give her the time for a clever remark.

"You unpack your things now, I'll come later and pick you up. We'll be making dinner tonight."

* * *

The next morning they all met at breakfast to discuss how Charles intended to train them. The night had been better than Evie had expected, no nightmares to haunt her. She couldn't remember exactly what she had dreamt about, but she knew that it has been something good.

"If we want to stand a chance against Shaw and his mutants, we will need to use our powers as best as we can, which is why I will start with training each of you individually", Charles explained as they had finished their breakfast and were now all sipping on their last bit of coffee. He then announced that before lunch, he would start with Alex, Hank and Erik.

"Charles, how will you train Darwin and me? Our mutations aren't really made for that kind of stuff", Raven said. Charles looked at her. "Yes, I've thought of that as well."

An idea struck Evie's mind. "Maybe I can help. I'll train you in basic combat and I can help you with guns." Moira then offered her help as well. Charles smiled. "Alright then, let's start right away."

* * *

Evie had picked the garden for their training sessions. She thought the grass would be a fine ground for them. As agreed on, Darwin and Raven attended the combat training. Sean had shown up as well, but he had insisted on only watching them. As long as the others were fine with it, Evie saw no problem in that.

"Alright, even though we won't train your mutant-abilities, I won't forbid you to use them. We're training for a real fight, and I don't see why we shouldn't use what we have. I'll show you how a soviet assassin fights."

The first quarter of an hour they practised warm-up exercises. Then, Evie showed them basic ways to defend themselves. In the first round, Evie just wanted them to dodge from her attacks, which they both mastered quite fast. So far, it was only one of them at a time against Evie, so they had enough time to think of which way to jump without having to calculate much. "I will now attack both of you at the same time."

Darwin laughed. "Why? Are you getting tired?" Evie smiled at that. "No, the attacks will be faster and you won't have time to think before I attack. You will also learn that you're not alone there. It's always good to outnumber your enemy, but you should never stand each other in the way. Alright, let's start." Evie chased them back and forth for roughly twenty minutes until she decided they should have a break. None of them had made use of their powers so far.

After a five minutes break, Evie showed them how they could defend themselves. She explained that even if it was important to make good strikes, the most important thing was to not get struck themselves. They trained that until lunch-time. Evie was quite content with their proceedings, of course they were pressed for time, and what she learned in months and years just couldn't be taught in a few day's time. Evie hoped it wouldn't come that far that they would actually need this training in their fight against Shaw and his mutants. Darwin had good chances though, it wasn't easy to actually injure him, but she feared for Raven. Her powers were great, but they weren't much use in a fight. Besides, Evie wasn't sure whether Raven's appearance weakened her. She could imagine that in her natural form, Raven would be more concentrated on the task at hand and maybe even less restricted. Evie knew that Raven didn't need clothes in her normal body, she wouldn't freeze and without any clothing, she would be able to move better and be more flexible. She decided that it was best to talk to Raven about that in private.

"I'll see you at lunch, I really need a shower", Raven said and left Darwin and Evie alone. Sean had left after the first hour of watching them getting themselves sweaty and dirty on the ground.

"Are you alright, Darwin?", Evie asked as they made their way into the mansion.

"Yeah, I'm just a bit tired, but that training is great, thank you for teaching us." He beamed at her and she could see how glad he really was for being burned off energy. "Oh you're welcome. I'm glad if this skills can finally do some good. But what about the last few days. We all didn't really have the time to talk about what happened."

Darwin stopped in his tracks and Evie turned to him. "Why would you ask me?" Evie wasn't sure how to interpret that undertone. She didn't want to cross a line.

"I'm sorry, I ..." She didn't know how to talk herself out of that situation.

Darwin looked at his feet sadly. "I really liked Angel, I mean, I know I didn't really know her, but she was just so kind and ... I was, I mean I still am terrified that she's the enemy now."

Evie shook her head and took Darwin's hands in hers. "She's not the enemy, and believe me, no one here wants to hurt her. Actually, I hope you won't need the training I give you. No more deaths."

He nodded and she squeezed his hands. "If just everyone thought like that. I've seen what you did there with Azazel. How careful you were. Most would have killed him if they had the chance. You're a lot like Charles." She blushed at that. Charles was a pure person, he only had good intentions. She still struggled to see that in herself, but she was thankful for Darwin's words nevertheless.

"Thank you." The smile was back on Darwin's face now and that's how she knew he was okay. Darwin without a smile made her incredibly sad, but his smiles could make one forget all worries for a few moments. "Let's get something to eat", he said and she followed him to the dining room.

* * *

After lunch, Charles declared that he thought it would be better if they all joined Evie's training. Their powers were great and all, but they couldn't know what to expect of Shaw, so he thought it was best if they were all fit for an old-fashioned fight. They agreed on meeting in the morning for combat training, so they had the rest of the day training their mutant-powers. As they cleaned the dishes, Charles had asked Evie if she wanted to join Hank and him later. They would go jogging and since Charles knew Evie had done that at the facility, he had hoped she would jog with them. Of course she agreed, she had actually wanted to do that anyway, and she didn't mind company at all.

That was the first time she actually got to talk to Hank. To Evie, he seemed to be a very nice guy. Evie hoped, that he could learn to love his body, his mutation, and convince Raven to do the same. Of course Evie had no idea what it felt like to have an abnormal body, but neither Hank nor Raven's mutation disfigured them.

After she had showered, Evie went to the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea. "Oh, hello Evie", Moira greeted her. She was already there and boiled water. "Want some tea as well?", she asked and Evie nodded. "Yes, thank you." Evie sat down at the table and ran her fingers through her short hair. "Has it always been that short? Your hair, I mean."

Evie smiled at the memory of she had gotten to such short hair, which had been, and still was, quite uncommon for a woman. "Well, my father had pretty much always had a military career in his mind for me. And, you know, soldiers always wear their hair very short, but that wasn't required of me. Actually, my father wanted me to look as lady-like as possible, and our superiors didn't mind. I wasn't an ordinary soldier after all, but one day, I got so infuriated with my father, that I just wanted to piss him off as much as possible. So I took his razor blade, and cut my hair short. It looked terrible, so he took scissors and tried to save what was left of my hair." Moira laughed then. "Well, I guess you did piss him off."

"Oh yeah, I did. Weeks later, he still glared at me whenever he looked me in the eyes. Anyway, I chose to wear my hair like this then, it's incredibly handy." Moira nodded at that. "I can imagine."

Silence fell over them then. Moira turned around to pour them both their tea and handed Evie her cup then. "Thanks."

Evie could see that Moira still had a question on her mind, but she seemed to struggle with herself. "You can just ask me, you know. I won't chop your head off."

Moira exhaled. "I'm not sure if this is too personal, but I would like to know if you had something like a family. Did you get along with your father when you were younger?" Evie had to think about that before she could answer. She hadn't thought much about how happy she had been at any time in her life. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked."

Evie shook her head. "No, it's fine, I just had to think about that, to be honest. Well, as you probably know from my records, I never had a mother. She died when I was very young. And as to my father, even if he was a terrible person in the end, he granted me a great childhood. Probably because he did not know of my mutation as I was little. I think he really cared for me then, I know he had loved my mother dearly. I don't know why he turned to Hydra, maybe he just needed something he could blame for everything." Moira touched her hand to comfort her, but Evie was surprised how easy it was to talk about her father. She never paid much attention to why he did what he did, and now she herself wanted to know his reasons.

"He wasn't that monster what you might think he was, he ... just followed orders. Maybe he wanted to protect what was left of his family, I could imagine that Hydra promised potential members whatever they wanted, and after that, it's just obeying. But I can't really know. He would be the only one who could tell us."

"So you think he's alive?"

Evie shrugged. "I have no idea. I have read the records, after my disappearance, he vanished as well. Hydra either got rid of him for they no longer saw any use in him, or he managed to flee. Maybe he had a realisation just as I had. Or perhaps he goes under another name now. I can imagine that it won't be easy to find him."

"I can take a look into it, if you want. Of course only once this is over", Moira offered, but Evie shook her head.

"No, this could get you into trouble. You don't want Hydra to chase after you, if they want you, they'll find you. But I've been wondering for quite a time now ... how have you managed to gather all this information about me without getting caught? I mean, I'm a public enemy, a mass murderer, how can I still walk around freely?"

Moira smiled at her, it wasn't mocking, it rather comforted Evie. "They think you're dead. The agents that have seen you think you are someone else, and well, the CIA doesn't really care if documents of a dead person are borrowed, especially not if the situation is tense elsewhere."

Evie wondered what Moira thought herself. She knew the other mutants thought highly of her, and Moira probably did as well, but she still was an CIA agent, she should be at least be cautious around Evie. "You have seen what I did. Don't you want me to ... I don't know, atone for my sins?"

Moira laughed shortly. "That's a nice way to put it. Well, I don't think you are the person that they call Ananke on these documents. So it wouldn't actually do any good to punish you. And Charles trusts you, if someone can say if a person is good or bad, who, if not he, would that someone be?" Evie nodded. Of course she could thank Charles for it.

"Well, thanks for that little chat, but I have to leave you now. I wanted to watch Charles train Sean, and they'll start in a few minutes." Evie nodded. "Have fun."

The next few days they spent training. In the morning they would all meet to be taught by Evie in combat skills, which turned out to be a lot fun to all of them. Of course Evie tried to challenge them, she made it as hard as possible for them and everyone - except for Darwin, that is - was bruised afterwards. Evie didn't mean to scare them, but she thought it was best if they knew this might become fight for survival in only a short amount of time. Then, their opponent won't stop as soon as they're on the ground. After that, they would either continue fight-training (Moira and Evie had offered them to train whenever they wanted), or would be with Charles who helped them with their powers.

Charles knew how far she could go with her abilities, so he didn't train telekinesis and physical manipulation with her. Evie was quite good with that, so he wanted to teach her what power they somehow had in common. It didn't work out that well, though, Evie just wasn't a good telepath, but they kept trying, even though Evie always told him that they should stop. Charles sacrificed himself as her subject of experiments, and as expected, it always hurt him. He wouldn't hear any of her concerns though. Charles also wanted her to train her healing abilities. He thought that because of their lack of actual injuries, she should experiment on plants, which she thought was a brilliant idea. They were simple beings, so they were perfect for training. She found out that her body somehow healed itself faster than any of the rest, so what she did after Azazel's attack hadn't been that much on her account. Or maybe it was just easier as long as it only concerned her, because Charles had also offered one of his abrasions, which he had probably got in combat training, and it had taken forever for her to finally feel something happening on his skin. Or maybe he just manipulated her mind so she wouldn't lose her hope.

Anyway, they all made progresses and they grew closer quite quickly. They spent each meal together, and if they weren't chatting, then Darwin or Sean - or sometimes both of them - would provide them with enough entertainment.

One day, they all gathered at Hank's lab which was originally Charles' father's and then his stepfather's. Hank had designed a suit that had fabric sewed on either side of it, so if someone would lift their arms wearing that suit there was cloth all the way from their hips to their hands. Hank had explained that it would carry Sean through the air if he hit the right tone. He had tried that from the window of the lab. Thank god there was thicket underneath. He had jumped off the window, the rest of them watching him through the other windows, gave off a short scream and landed in the bushes. They all had laughed then, as Sean had struggled to get out of the thicket and leaves stuck out of his blonde curls.

For Alex, Hank had designed something that could bundle his energy so that he could aim his blazes. It looked like a vest with a metallic circle on his front which bundled his powers. Alex had told Evie that he wasn't sure if that would work anytime soon, because he still couldn't hit what he wanted to. She told him then that she had similar problems, no matter how hard she tried, whenever she ripped a leaf apart, she just couldn't fix it back together. Charles had tried to help her of course, and one day he even came to her with a slash wound. Evie asked herself then if he had done that on purpose, but since it was nothing serious she didn't bother to ask him. She was amazed by how calm he had been during the process. He suggested that maybe she just needed to touch the skin around it, to actually feel the wound and the cells, but it hadn't really worked. She was disheartened after that, maybe she just didn't have enough strength to heal someone else, but Charles wouldn't let go. He trained twice a day with her, once sometime around midday, and another time later in the evening. It was always already dark then. She wasn't sure why he wanted to train so often with her, but it was probably because her powers were quite wide-ranging and his mutation was somehow similar to hers. Anyway, he practised her mental manipulation with her. He had allowed her to get into his mind, and she wondered why he would let her experiment on him so often. Naturally, she had declined. She didn't really want to hurt him, but he told her that being a powerful telepath himself, he would handle it. So she began to get into his mind. She couldn't see anything, there were no memories she could have a look on. It wasn't because he shaded them from her view, it just wasn't something she could do. Not yet, anyways. However, she found out that she could force him to do something, not only physically, but also mentally. She couldn't get memories out of him, but she could force memories into him. That didn't seem very useful for Evie, but that making-someone-do-anything-part excited her. Charles was excited as well as they found out, because that was something his power allowed him to do as well, so he could pretty much show her what to do by experience. He told her to keep practising her healing abilities on plants, though.

And there was yet another thing she had to think about a lot lately. At daytime, she was often plagued by memories of her past, by horrible tortures that not only were directed at her, but also pain she had inflicted on others. Normally, she should have terrible nightmares, but that wasn't the case. She couldn't remember what she dreamt about, but she always had a good feeling after waking up. She had a suspicion. It was either that she had overcome what she had done, but she highly doubted that, since she thought about that when she was awake. Or it was Charles. He was the only one who could do that, but that would mean that he looked into her brain every night. She was very uncomfortable with that, she didn't want him to see her messed up mind now. Evie didn't want him to see her inner monster, but it was only a suspicion and if he wasn't responsible for her restful nights, then it would be highly embarrassing for her if she questioned him.

* * *

The next evening, Evie managed to get the courage to talk to Raven about what she thought about when they were training combat skills. She had thought a lot about what she could say to her regarding that matter. She hoped that Raven wouldn't get mad at her for once again being approached about that.

Raven was currently training her muscles by lifting weights, as she had told Evie after combat training. They had changed one of the living rooms of the ground floor into more or less a training room. They had merely moved the furniture against the wall. On the hallway towards the training room, she came upon Erik who walked out of the room. She looked at him, questioning, but he just shrugged. "I didn't do anything."

"I haven't even asked, you know." He just laughed and continued on his way. As Evie entered the training room, she saw Raven sitting on an upholstered couch, her set of weights lying on the ground. She was in her blue form. As Raven saw her, she wiped away a tear, but it was too late, her friend had already seen it.

"What did he do?", Evie asked concerned and sat down next to her. Raven exhaled.

"I don't really know what to think anymore. On the one hand there are Charles and Hank who want me to look normal, and then there are you and Erik who say that I should walk around like this." She gestured at her body in its blue glory.

"No, that's not what I meant. You should walk around like you want to, not what others expect from you. What do  _you_  want?"

Raven thought about that for a moment. "I don't know. I want them to accept me. And ... I don't want to hide. It's not like I think I'm ugly like this, I'm just different." Evie smiled. She had hoped that her friend liked herself, if she was anxious as to what others thought about her, well, they could work on that. "They'll accept you if you do what you want."

Raven nodded. "That's what Erik said as well."

Evie struggled with herself. She wasn't sure if she should voice her concerns now, but now that Raven had said herself that she preferred her natural form, she thought now was better than ever. "I know I said I don't want you to change for anyone, but I came upon the idea that maybe you can be better at combat if you were in this form, without clothes just as it was as you were little. Maybe you're even more flexible." Raven laughed at that and Evie looked at her feet, blushing embarrassedly. "I am more flexible like this. Alright, I think it can't hurt to try."

Evie beamed. Finally that worry was off her chest. "That's great!"

Raven smiled then for it was also a worry that she had carried around with her for a long time. She couldn't completely forget that just now, but Evie's help meant a lot to her.

"Alright, there is something I wanted to talk to you about as well. What's the thing between Charles and you?"

Taken aback, she answered rather quickly. "I promise you, there is nothing going on between us."

Raven lifted her eyebrow. "Really? Because I have seen you staying in his room quite long after sunset." Evie blushed.

"That's because we're training. We found out that some of my abilities are similar to his, which is why we train so often."

"Yeah, yeah, you keep saying that." Evie huffed, but didn't respond anything. Actually, she had thought about something like that as well, but even if that was also in Charles' mind, now was not the right time. They had other matters to think about.

"What about you and Hank? Anything serious happened yet?"

Raven groaned. "Don't start with that. I like him, I really do, but after that night back at that facility, after Erik ruined our moment, there hasn't been something like that again. We spend time together now and then, but that's it. And every time I try something, he's all flustered and he doesn't know what to do."

Evie laughed at hearing her friend's problems. "Well, he's a scientist. You have to point it out clearly."

Raven hummed. "I'll just sit on his lap next time. There is no way he can't get that."

"Yeah, you do that, and I'll just continue with my non-existent healing abilities."

"Have heard about that. No progress?"

Evie shook her head. "Charles lets me train on him, he once had a slash wound, I don't know how he got that, but nothing works. Not touching, not concentrating."

"Oh Evie, you innocent little kid. I would say he did that so you have a reason to touch him." Evie shoved her away. "Shut up."

She stood up then and walked towards the door. "Come on, won't you help me with dinner?"

Turning around, Evie could see her friend - now back in her blonde form - grinning broadly.

* * *

That evening, as Evie sat on the couch in Charles' bedroom, she felt quite nervous. It was probably because of her conversation with Raven earlier.

"Are you alright?", Charles asked as he sat down next to her, handing her a glass of wine. That was something that made her nervous as well. They didn't drink wine normally, but as he had asked her whether she wanted a glass or not, it had sounded just too tempting to decline.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just, there are no proceedings with my healing powers, I start to doubt that I have them."

"Maybe it's just hard for you because that involves actual living things. You have great respect for that, I would say that's what keeps you from manipulating cells. Do you want to stop training that? I won't force you to do anything."

Evie shook her head. "No, I want to continue, it would be great to be able to heal someone. I could finally do something good."

Charles shifted towards her as he heard that. Not sure what to do, Evie took a sip of the wine. He gently touched her arm then to reassure her.

"How can you still not see it? Since your awakening, everything that you have done was good. You saved people, you help us now to save whole nations. And I've seen your thoughts, there are no evil intentions."

Evie placed her glass on the coffee table. "How would you know? Because I know what I think about and I can assure you, not everything is as pure as you say it is." Charles then put his glass away as well.

"The thoughts that you talk about are those that you had before you woke up. But that's not you anymore. What you think about these thoughts, what your opinion is, that's who you are. Not that you have these thoughts. And I can say for sure that you're disgusted by them."

Evie stared at him open mouthed. She hadn't thought about it that way. It never really crossed her mind that even if she thought about doing horrible things, the fact that she didn't do it and was even grossed out by them made her ... yes what did that made of her? She wouldn't call herself good, not yet, but she did see Charles' point now.

And her worries about him looking into her mind were gone now as well. Even if he saw all these horrible things, maybe he could understand her. He saw her as she really was and if he wasn't disgusted by her, then that only meant what a great person he was. He had totally earned his title of a professor. He could guide others.

"Thank you", she whispered quietly. He smiled gently and stroked her arm. She hadn't even noticed that he still had his hand there.

"I have to apologise. Normally, I don't look into my friend's minds without permission. I haven't asked you, but you're having terrible nightmares every night, and whenever I feel your distress, I just can't help myself. I'm sorry." She couldn't help but smile at his apologetic gaze. "How can I be mad at you for getting rid of my nightmares. But don't stay awake because of that."

Charles laughed then. "I can't really control that. Whenever I feel your distress, I wake up if I'm not already awake."

"Oh shit, I'm so sorry. Do you get any sleep at all?"

He chuckled. "It's alright, I'm fine. And I'm glad if I can help a friend."

"No way now that I know that you spend your nights staying awake because my mind won't shut up, we keep going like that."

"As I already said, it's alright. I do get sleep, no need to worry. You can let your friends take a little care of you now and then, it won't hurt you."

Evie snorted. "It has absolutely nothing to do with that. Really, I appreciate your help, I just don't want to be a burden." She had averted her eyes then. She knew by now that he hated hearing her talking about herself like that.

Charles took Evie by surprise as he touched her chin and turned her head so that she looked at him. They were close, have been all the time but Evie hadn't really noticed while they were talking. "You are no burden, Evie. You couldn't ever be." Charles slowed down as he spoke and leaned towards her. She didn't flinch as he came closer, which gave him the courage to finally kiss her. He had wanted to do that for quite a time now, and he had almost done it that day they arrived at his mansion, but something has stopped him then. Evie didn't respond first though, taken by surprise her eyes were wide open, but as realisation hit her, that she really was here and this was real, she closed her eyes and enjoyed the feel of his lips pressed against her's gently. He didn't do anything further, just smiled, for he too was quite surprised by how this has turned out. Of course Charles knew that she liked him, he was a telepath after all, but he couldn't know what she would have actually done if he made a move.

They broke apart, their foreheads touching lightly. Evie had no idea what to say now. No one had ever prepared her for something like this.

"That was ... really nice", Charles said and smiled gently. One of his hands was softly touching her hand now, caressing it. She nodded, still being at a loss of words.

They couldn't relish that moment for long though. They met so late for a reason after all, and she still needed a lot of practise.

That night, as Evie lay sleeping in her bed across from his room, Charles could feel happiness in her before the nightmares began.

And he could feel right at the beginning that this night, they were more horrid than usual.

 


	10. Nightmares

Chapter 9: Nightmares

_1962, Westchester County, New York_

"And just to get this right, you want me to be here because ...?" Evie looked at Erik, Charles and Hank questioningly as they stood upon the giant satellite dish offsite the Xavier-mansion. She could see the manor far in the distance, though it looked so very small. She felt a little sick as she looked down to the ground. If someone was to fall down, there was no chance of surviving. She clutched the railing tightly as she stood next to Erik trying to ignore the fact that not only to her side, but also a few feet behind her was her certain death.

"Because Charles is a pussy and wants you to make sure that Sean survives this." She shook her head internally at Erik's words and looked down once again. "You're having a lot of faith in me."

"He won't fall down like a sack of potatoes, I altered the design of his suit so that it will carry him better than last time", Hank explained. Evie could see that he, too, was holding on tightly onto the railing, even if he tried to hide it.

"It didn't carry me at all last time." Sean peeked over the railing and looked at Charles, seeking help. "It'll work this time. And Evie will catch you if something goes wrong."

Sean nodded then. "I trust you." He pointed at Charles. "I'm touched."

"I don't trust him." He looked down again and swayed back and forth on his feet. "Say nothing", Charles said before Hank got the chance to reply.

"I'm gonna die!" Sean ran his fingers through his hair and made a step back.

Charles put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Look, we're not going to make you do anything you don't feel-"

"Here, let me help." Erik grabbed Sean's back and pushed him off their platform. With mouth agape, Evie leaned forward and tried to catch Sean with her powers, though as she managed to grasp him, he was already flying by himself, screaming his way into the air. As Sean made his way past them and high into the sky, Erik smiled, pleased with himself. They could hear Sean laugh as he flew.

"What? You know we were thinking the same." Charles cracked a little smile. "I hope you're joking, you just risked his life for nothing, you fucking moron!" Evie couldn't believe Charles didn't say anything against Erik's action. He was supposed to be a professor. Pushing students to their limits or not, but this could have easily killed Sean if Evie hadn't been quick enough to interfere and the suit hadn't worked yet.

"Never put anyone's life on the line, especially not if there's absolutely no reason to do such a stupid thing", she said with a snarl at Erik and then looked at Charles who seemed to be taken aback by her sudden outrage.

Glaring at them one last time, she turned around and climbed down the ladder. She forced herself not to look down, but naturally she did and tried to ignore the sour feeling in her stomach until she had reached the ground. None of the men could be seen climbing down as well, so she didn't bother and walked all the way towards the mansion alone trying to swallow her anger.

_It had taken her long to understand what comradeship meant. Evie had never had to care about others on missions, it has simply never been her task, so she had never paid much attention to it. Other soldiers had just been replaceable resources. When they would attack, they did it as a wave, destroying everything on their way and in the middle of it would be Evie, the most terrible weapon they had. Surrounded by soldiers that protected her, not voluntarily, because they didn't really had a say in what they did._

_Some of them rebelled, naturally, since missions with the infamous Ananke always lead to two things that were certain. The first one was success, Red Skull would only send her if the situation was tense and he wanted the mission finished without failure, so if he sent Evie, the mission was sure to be awful. The second thing was deaths, most of the Hydra soldiers didn't make it back, which is why only compensable men would be sent on missions with her._

Evie shook her head at that memory. She had never really been cold-hearted, she had just managed to ignore most of the horrible things that had happened long before her escape from Hydra. One of them was her comrades, which were rather only tools to her back then. Maybe she would have looked at them in another light, if her superiors - which included her father - hadn't taught her otherwise.

She hadn't learned what comradeship meant within Hydra. After meeting all those courageous men and women that had worked for the U.S. army, however, she had understood what all those losses had meant for the first time. Even if they had been working for Hydra, and with that for the enslavement of all, some of them had had no idea what they had actually done. She had been mislead as well, after all.

Deeply in thoughts, Evie reached the mansion and encountered Alex in the hallways. "Hey, Ev. How's it going?"

She managed to crack a smile for him. "Everything's fine, we're making progress, sort of. Sean's able to fly now." Alex smiled as well and leaned against the wall, showing off his muscles with his sleeveless pullover. "That's nice to hear. I've good news as well. Remember when I told you about these mannequins? I tried again this morning, Giant-Feet somehow managed to make his construct work, and I shot the one Charles wanted me to hit."

Evie grinned at his beaming face. They all knew that he had been in prison before joining them, and that he had rather been in solitary confinement than being with others, afraid of his own powers, then. "That's great to hear."

"How is your healing proceeding, anyway?" She was surprised by his interest, normally he didn't talk much. He might look like some thug, but he was actually just not sure of himself, so he tried to maintain that image of him so no one asked questions. He had opened up the last few days, though. She had seen him often with Darwin and Raven, either talking or training, and she felt glad that he had found something like security in their little family.

"You can't call it proceedings, really. I'm not improving at all, but my telepathic abilities are better now. Charles can help me a lot, since that's his power as well." Alex nodded. "Well, that's something at least." Evie nodded.

"Well, I gotta leave now, I'm meeting with Darwin." He smiled one last time at her and went for the garden, where he would probably train with Darwin.

* * *

Evie hadn't talked to Charles or Erik yet, but she had managed to calm down. She had a bitter feeling now, she shouldn't have snarled at Charles so suddenly, that poor man couldn't have known what that meant to her. Erik on the other hand, had deserved it. It had been downright stupid to push Sean off the platform, even if they had been totally sure that Evie would have been able to catch him.

She was sitting near the the lake in front of Xavier-mansion under a tree, watching little ducklings that were trying to keep track of their parents. She cracked a smile as she thought of their simple life, not having to care about anything other than themselves. And they probably were happy, Evie would be, too, if she had such an adorable family.

Averting her gaze, she took the book that she had found in one of the mansion's many library-rooms which was lying next to her. She still was amazed by how many books Charles had, basically every room had shelves instead of walls filled up with books to the ceilings. It was some biology-book about various trees that grew in northern America. Evie had always liked the solace that she could find in forests, it felt like a home to her, outside in the woods.

Rather skipping the pages and looking at a few beautiful pictures than reading, she grew quite tired of it, and laid back. She closed her eyes and listened to the rustling of the leaves, the little noises that the duck family made and found herself relax rather quickly.

_"_ _No, I won't do that." Evie crossed her arms over her chest and looked at her father challengingly. The room in which they were was barely lit, so she couldn't exactly see the anger in her father's features._

_"_ _He is the enemy, Evie, you know that." Evie shook her head. "He's just a little kid! He isn't even old enough to understand what 'enemy' means." She looked at the little boy who was scrunched in one corner of the room. He might have been ten, she couldn't really say with all the dirt on him and now also a tear-stained face. Their soldiers had found him walking around their facility. They didn't really know how he got there, but they suspected he was sent by the enemy to get information about Hydra._

_"_ _I won't kill a child." Her father snorted. "I might be one now, but let's say in five years he will be old enough to hold a gun. And he will point it at us; your family."_

_Evie couldn't believe what nonsense her father said. He had a child himself, he of all people should be reluctant to harm a kid. "Look into his face, does he look like a killer to you?"_

_She feared for the boy's life, if her father had something on his mind, he would manage to have it done - with or without his daughter's help. So her only chance was to talk her way out of this situation._

_"_ _He should have known not to sniff around. And it's our job now to make his superiors know that. I don't want you to kill him, just erase anything that he knows of us."_

_Evie huffed. Her father knew damn well that if she did that, the boy would rather want to be dead than alive. "I'll leave you two alone, and when I'm back, I want him to be silenced. The choice is yours." He hold out a dagger to her which he seemed to have gotten out of nowhere. Snarling at him, she took the blade nevertheless and hold it in her left hand. Her father smiled and quickly left the room._

_Evie exhaled once before turning around. The boy winced back, but he couldn't get farther away from her, his back already touched the wall. She raised her hands to show him she meant no harm and put the dagger away on the ground to kick it away. "I won't hurt you. And that man won't either, not as long as I'm here. I am Evie, what's your name?"_

_She sat down in front of him, she hoped he would relax around her, so that he would tell her what on earth brought him to a military facility. "Ben." His voice was little more than a whisper, his eyes were still puffy from crying. "I want to get you out of here, but to do that I need to know why you're here. Can you tell me how you got here?"_

_He shook his head and started crying again. She slid towards him and took his hand in hers. "It's okay. I'll protect you."_

_He stared at her and she could for the first time see his features that were covered by dirt and blood. The soldiers hadn't treated him very well, it seemed. She cursed them, they were supposed to fight the real threat, and not hurt little children!_

_"_ _My friends said it would be cool if we got in here. So we slipped out of our homes and went here."_

_Evie was partly relieved as she heard that. It would improve his chance to get out of here without further harm. "So it was a test of courage?"_

_Ben stared at her for a moment before nodding._

_"_ _Are your friends still here? Do you know if the soldiers caught them as well?"_

_He shook his head and let out a heartbreaking sob. "I don't think so. They ran away and left me here, I was alone when they caught me."_

_She squeezed his hand. "It's okay, I'll get you out of here, and then I'll check if one of your friends is here."_

_She wondered then where the next village or city was, the children must live nearby but she couldn't remember how the area around the facility looked like. Thinking about it, she can't recall having seen it at all._

_"_ _Alright, Ben, stand up, we'll leave."_

_Cracking a smile for him, she pulled him to his feet and led him towards the door. As the door swung open though, she reacted quickly and pushed Ben behind her to protect him with her body. It was her father and a few soldiers, each of them pointing a gun at them._

_She didn't think they would actually shoot her, no matter how bad they wanted the child dead. "What's the use of that? I won't let you kill him and you can't really force me to do that."_

_Her father smiled sardonically and now Evie wasn't so sure of herself anymore. "Too bad. You're becoming a pain in the ass, Evie, I hate to do that, but we'll need to restart you. Again."_

_She had no idea what he meant with that. Her father lifted his gun at her. It wasn't pointed high enough for her face, but she couldn't tell what he was aiming for. The other soldiers pointed their guns at her as well and that was when she saw red. Her father might have the authority to order her around, but none of them were permitted to kill someone they did not know to be an enemy._

_Just as Evie concentrated on throwing their guns out of harm's way, her father snickered, already knowing what she would do, and fired a bullet._

The former soldier was woken with a start by a tremor beneath her. She hastily looked around to find the source of the interruption. In the distance she could see it then, the satellite dish turned around so that the inner surface pointed at the mansion.

She wondered what on earth would cause such a thing, but as she looked at the mansion, she could already imagine what had happened. Charles and Erik stood at the foot of the mansion. Even though she hadn't forgotten the earlier events, she smiled happily for Erik. He was indeed a powerful mutant.

_Evie, join us in the living room._ She was startled by Charles' voice suddenly inside her head.  _The president is about to make his address._

She nodded and rolled her eyes at her stupidity.  _Coming_ , she thought. She jogged her way towards the mansion, she wouldn't on any terms miss Kennedy's address.

* * *

Evie stood next to Sean and Darwin as they looked tensely at the little television. They all stood except for Moira and Charles who sat on a couch. Evie nodded at Raven who smiled at her and then looked around. The address hadn't yet begun so she had enough time to wonder where they have all come from. Sean, Darwin and Alex had without doubt trained before they were called. She couldn't tell what Raven had done, since she was in quite formal clothing, but then again you could never really tell whether Raven was actually wearing something or if it was just her mutation. Hank came from his lab, obviously, and Moira had probably been waiting at the TV for the president to be announced. What left Evie mouth agape however, was Erik. He was in his grey training suit, but upon looking more precisely, she could see that he hold a gun in his right hand. She looked up in his face to see a frown, he had probably just caught her staring at him, so she furrowed her brow and pointed with her eyes at the gun in his hand. He looked down as if he didn't know what she meant and realised then as well that he was carrying a pistol. But instead of giving her an answer, he just shrugged and laid the gun on a small table next to him. Evie focused back on the TV, on which Kennedy's face finally showed up.

"It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile crossing the embargo line that surrounds Cuba as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States requiting a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union..."

Erik interrupted the speech of the president. "That's where we're going to find Shaw."

"How do you know?", Alex asked, but instead of Erik, Charles answered.

"Two superpowers facing off and he wants to start World War III. He wont leave anything to chance."

Even though Evie could understand what Charles was aiming at, she couldn't quite catch why Shaw would make everything so complicated. He could absorb energy, and he had a very powerful telepath, who also happened to be indestructible, and a mutant who could teleport. They also had Angel, but Evie didn't think of her mutation as powerful as the others'. They were powerful enough to just do whatever they wanted without having to wait for humans to destroy themselves.

Charles turned around to look at Evie and she already figured he had read her mind - even if he hadn't asked her, as he had said he would, but he didn't say anything.

"So much for diplomacy. I suggest you all get a good night's sleep", Erik said. Evie watched him carefully as he took hold of his gun and left the room.

None of them said anything, and Evie concentrated back on the television, but the speech was already almost over, she could only catch the last few words.

"... ultimately leads to war."

A cold shiver ran down her back and she could sense that the others felt that way as well.

Tomorrow would truly be a terrifying nightmare.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I can't really say how long it will take me to upload next chapter, but you can definitely look forward to it. Don't wanna spoil anything, but it will be the last night before grande finale with Shaw and- I should shut up now


	11. The Calm before the Storm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maturity Warning: This chapter contains adult content, if you don't like this stuff, then stop reading at the kiss. And don't worry, you don't miss anything important as to the story's content

Chapter 10: The Calm before the Storm

_1962, Westchester County, New York_

They all hadn't talked much since the president's address. Dinner had been very awkward; the silence had been weighing them down more than their fear of tomorrow. Evie couldn't really tell what she was feeling, it was rather an ongoing numbness and almost indifference, as if it wasn't really her fight. If she thought more precisely about it, that was just the case. She had nothing to do with this war, but so hadn't the other mutants in this room and still they were all here. Erik on the other hand had a reason to fight Shaw, that man had tortured him when he was just a child and he had killed his mother.

A few of them had already left their silent and awkward gathering, Erik and Charles had gone off to play a game of chess and Raven and Hank had left shortly after. Darwin, Sean and Alex played cards next to Moira and Evie who where trying to read the newspaper in unison. Except for articles of the crisis with Russia, they couldn't find anything else interesting so they both kind of just read the words as a pastime, but they didn't really get what the authors were talking about.

"I don't wanna kill anyone", Darwin suddenly spoke up. They were all startled at the interruption of silence, the only sound they had heard for almost two hours had been the flipping of pages and the cards that hit the table every time a move had been made by the boys. They simultaneously looked up at Darwin who had placed his cards on the table and tried to avoid their questioning eyes.

"You won't have to, Darwin. It's not our task to eliminate any of them", Moira tried to reassure him.

"Yeah, but last time Shaw paid us a visit, he said he would kill us if we didn't join him. And then there is the third World War looming over our heads."

Evie shook her head. "I showed you how to fight without killing. Remember: just distract your opponent with whatever you have. And if that doesn't work I'm there as well, and I am an experienced soldier. You're not alone. None of us is."

Evie felt them staring at her, she wasn't sure if they thought she had talked complete bullshit, but that had been what she had wanted to hear. "Thank you, Evie. I'm glad we're in this together", Darwin said and directed a half-smile at her.

"All right, I'm going to bed, have a good night, see y'all in the morning." Alex stood up and waved his goodbye at them.

"Almost seems as if every time something gets friendly, he runs away", Darwin said then.

"Understandable, he has even less experience with family as I have, and that means something", Evie mentioned. "Anyway, I'm retiring for the night as well. Good night, everyone." She smiled at them all before she left the kitchen. Before tomorrow she had to talk to a few people, and she intended to get that done.

* * *

As she entered Raven's room, Evie noticed something was off. The atmosphere was heavy as she knocked on the door and then heard a muffled 'Come in'.

Raven was sitting on one of her armchairs in front of the fireplace, her sad eyes just looked at her friend but as soon as she recognised Evie, she averted her gaze. Raven was clad in her bathrobe and a rather big casket laid on her lap. She was in her natural form as well and didn't change as Evie walked towards her. Evie didn't wait for her friend to allow her to take a seat and just sat down in front of Raven in the other armchair.

She didn't look like she had been crying, but something had happened that had made her deeply sad. And Evie didn't think it was because of tomorrow. Instead of saying anything, she slowly reached out for the casket. Raven didn't do anything to stop her so she took it into her hands and opened it. Inside was a syringe with a green gel-ish liquid in it. Evie could tell now what happened before she came to see her friend.

Hank had come to bring the cure for his and Raven's beauty-problem, but Raven who had become more confident over the last few days had declined and told Hank to do the same; accept himself the way he should do.

"Did he take it?", Evie asked, not sure what to tell her friend to not upset her any further. Raven shook her head.

"Not here, but he is probably injecting it right now. I told him we shouldn't hide, that humans should want to be like us rather than the other way around, but he said that even if humans accept us into society, we ... our bodies would never be deemed beautiful."

Evie sighed internally, Hank was such an intelligent person, how could he so easily stumble over basic manners?

"I know what you're going to say, he's wrong and I am beautiful, and I actually believe you, but .. in some way, he's right. Society won't accept us. And I don't only mean Hank and me, but all of us mutants."

Evie furrowed her brow. "Why would you say such a thing?"

Raven leaned forward, as if she was going to tell her a secret that no one else was supposed to hear. "Our abilities make us superior in some way. Naturally they'd be either scared of us or envious."

Evie shook her head. "Not every human would think so."

"It doesn't need every human to make something terrible happen."

Evie nearly jumped at the sharp tone in her words. "Raven, you're talking nonsense. We have to show them that we mean no harm. Then they'll have no reason to attack us."

Raven sighed and leaned back into her armchair. "Erik has a vision. He sees the things as they are. Of course I'd always prefer Charles' way of dealing with those things, but I don't think his plan will work as peacefully as he wants it to."

"Do you say this because he told you you shouldn't hide your body?" Evie wondered if Raven would think differently if Hank hadn't had his body issues.

"Of course not, that's just how things are."

Evie didn't want to argue with her friend any longer the last night they might have, so she tried to change the subject. "You do like him though, don't you?" She smirked at Raven to show her she wanted to change the mood.

Raven caught that immediately. "Well, can you blame me?"

They both smiled at that then.

"Anyway, I wanted to talk to Charles. In case we don't see us before either of us goes to sleep: Have a good night." Raven stood up and Evie did as well, wishing her friend a good night and then left her room.

* * *

Evie found Erik in one of the smaller living rooms. Or rather she encountered him, since she hadn't really looked for him.

"Oh, hello", she greeted him. He was sitting on a couch with the newspaper in his hands that she and Moira had read earlier.

He lowered the newspaper and smiled at her, motioning for her to take a seat. "Who won?", Evie asked and he laid the paper on a coffee table

"I did, obviously."

She raised one eyebrow at that. "Obviously? He's the telepath, shouldn't he be supposed to tell your next moves?"

"Now that would be cheating, I don't think our innocent professor could do such a thing."

Evie laughed at that. Even though they all didn't know each other for a long time, she was amazed at his and Charles' friendship. As if they had known each other for all their lives.

They fell into silence for a short amount of time. She didn't really know what to say to him. Should she ask him about tomorrow?

There was something on her mind, though. They all knew they had to stop Shaw, there was no way they could prevent a war without stopping that mutant, but she wondered how they could archive that. Shaw was powerful, they might be able to lock him away, but his fellow mutants would manage to find a way to haul him out.

"Does Charles have a plan on what to do tomorrow? Stopping Russia from starting another world war is one thing, but how will we stop Shaw? He did threaten us all at the CIA facility."

Evie watched the fire in the small fireplace dancing around as she waited for his answer.

"We can't stop him, that's the thing. And actually, that's not what I want either."

She looked at him then, furrowing her brow. "What else do you want, then?"

"I want to kill him."

Evie nodded absently. That was a reasonable conclusion. Shaw had killed Erik's mother who now wanted revenge.

"I don't judge you, you know. I've thought about that as well, actually. We can't be safe any other way."

He looked surprised, as if he had already prepared for defending his opinions.

"You know what I did, I'm the last one who could judge you for that. Sometimes you just can't prevent a death if it's for the greater good."

"I just want to kill him because he murdered my mother."

She nodded at that, Evie already expected that reason. "I'm just afraid what humans would think of us after tomorrow. How would they accept us if we killed one of our own?"

"If you think they would accept us in any way then you're a fool."

She cracked a smile. "That's kinda iconic coming from you. You of all people should know that you oughtn't kill those that you think inferior."

"Good thing that I'm not doing that, then. They  _are_ inferior."

Evie sighed.

"Anyways, have a good night, I'm going to bed."

Evie nodded and wished Erik a good night as well. She decided that whenever the chance for him to kill Shaw arose, she would try to help him accomplish that. She would not, however, allow him to kill a human. There was no such thing as killing out of self-defence for him, and her as well, if she was honest. Their powers allowed them to disable their enemies without inflicting unnecessary harm.

The former soldier headed towards her own bedroom then, but found herself too restless to go to sleep just now, so she went to the kitchen. Maybe the others were still there.

* * *

Evie was just reaching out for the handle to the kitchen as the door opened abruptly. She jumped back immediately to get herself out of harm's way. A blue, and naked, Raven stomped out of the kitchen and almost bumped into her friend, but she stopped right before her and walked around her. She didn't look at Evie, but she could clearly see that she was furious.

Evie wondered what got Raven into such a state of mind, so she peeked into the kitchen and saw Charles sitting at the table, staring at her as if he had seen a ghost.

She furrowed her brow at that, but he quickly averted his gaze. "What the hell?", she asked and sat down across from him. She wanted to apologise for earlier that day, but she first wanted to know what had happened. They couldn't risk getting into a heavy argument before tomorrow.

"I don't understand what's gotten into her lately."

So that's what she had wanted to talk with Charles about. Evie knew Raven sought after Charles' approval of her, he was the only family that she had and he was the one who made her want to be normal in the first place, so naturally she needed him to accept her the way she was.

"Do you know, Evie?" She looked him in the eyes and wrestled with herself whether she should tell him. She could clearly see that he wanted to know, but she didn't want him to hold it against himself. He hadn't intented to make Raven feel uncomfortable, after all. But then again he would read her mind if she didn't give him the answer he needed, so it didn't matter if she said it or thought about it in the end.

"She wants to be accepted the way she is, especially from you."

Charles closed his eyes and covered his face with his hands. "I'm such a bloody fool."

Evie reached out to touch his arm in reassurance but stopped herself and let her hand fall onto the table.

"Don't blame yourself, it wasn't your intention, and believe me, she knows this. The problem was that Hank kind of forced her to want to look normal."

Charles groaned at hearing that. "I am a fool. I told her Hank managed to find a cure for their cosmetic problems."

Evie was once again amazed by how easily such intelligent people managed to get themselves in those situations.

"Yes, he brought her the serum before she went to talk with you. She'll be fine."

Charles looked up from behind his hands at her. "I hope you're right. But talking to her about it now wouldn't be a clever move, would it?"

Evie shook her head. "She'd know I talked to you. It wouldn't seem honest."

Charles stood up and poured himself a glass of wine. "Would you like some, too?" Evie nodded and accepted the glass thankfully. Maybe it would release her of her overall numbness so that she could be more relaxed.

"I meant to apologise for earlier this day ... I shouldn't have snapped at you like this, it wasn't fair", Evie said then. She realised that she hadn't said anything to Erik about this topic, but she hadn't had the need to say anything to him about it. She just wanted Charles to know that she had overreacted.

"No need to apologise, you're totally right. Erik shouldn't have had the opportunity to push Sean off the platform in the first place. I'll think twice of whom to take with me next time." He smiled at her and took a sip of his wine.

Evie thought about what had happened afterwards, how it had triggered bad memories. She wasn't sure if she should tell him. Not because she thought he could understand her better that way, he was probably the only person on earth who could fully understand another person, but because she wanted to tell him. There was no particular reason, she just wanted him to know.

"I overreacted, because it triggered a bad feeling."

Charles nodded in understanding. "I thought so." And after he noticed she didn't know how to continue, he asked her to share her experience with him. Evie wasn't sure what he meant, he either wanted her to tell him or he wanted to see it for himself in her mind, but seeing as he didn't raise his fingers to his temple, she concluded she had to explain.

"When I was with Hydra, I didn't have any friends. I was respected, but rather out of fear than out of actual admiration. Missions with me were ... suicide missions."

Charles smiled reassuringly and took hold of her hand and motioned for her to continue.

"Whenever Red Skull sent me, you knew it would be a tough mission, but I have to admit, way more soldiers could have made their way out of it if I had cared. I never really thought about the meaning of their lives, I wish I could blame it on my father, but I should have known better."

"You were manipulated all the time. They indoctrinated you with drugs and other horrible things, you cannot blame yourself for everything. Not if you're thinking about your doings with disgust now."

She appreciated his words, but she failed to see what he saw in her. He was right, she knew as much, since some of her memories didn't feel like her own. Most of it didn't feel like it had been her, as if it was another life.

"About earlier, before the president's address ... I didn't want to read your mind, you know that I'm doing this thing with my hand when I go into someone's mind ... I don't know. I'm sorry."

She furrowed her brow at hearing that, how could someone read someone's mind without actually wanting to do it? Charles knew how to control his powers, but he seemed honest and she didn't think he would lie to her.

"Has that happened before?", she asked.

"Accidentally reading someone's mind? Hasn't happened in quite a while. You see, that's why I'm always touching my temple, I started doing that so I could control it, as some kind of surveillance."

"So you don't actually need to do it?"

Charles laughed. "Of course not. My powers are inside my head."

He drank the rest of his wine and she did as well. It hadn't worked, she still felt numb, but now there was also a slight feeling of uneasiness.

"Would you mind if we continue our chat upstairs? It's getting quite cold here." Even though the kitchen had a fireplace, it hadn't been lit, which was quite surprising as seemingly in every other fireplace was a warm fire burning. She agreed and followed him into his rather big room.

* * *

They had just emptied their second bottle of wine discussing the most random things. Evie felt comfortingly relaxed, not just because of the slightly tingling sensation on her skin for which she blamed the alcohol, but also because Charles made her feel at home. She had been afraid that after their little kiss, things would be awkward, but she found the atmosphere between them was even more comfortable.

"But honestly, why would Shaw bother? He could just do whatever he wants, he doesn't need a human war to cause chaos", she reasoned.

"I'd say it's quite simple: because he can." She noticed how he stressed the last word more than necessary. "If you know you'll succeed anyway then why hush if you can bask in your enemies despair as they destroy themselves with their own stupidity?"

Maybe she wouldn't have laughed if she was more afraid of tomorrow than she was. Or if Charles hadn't put so much sarcasm in his statement. Or if she hadn't boozed a bottle of wine all by herself. But the situation was as it was and she laughed tears. Tomorrow seemed so far away now.

"I really like seeing you happy. You've seen so horrible things, it's nice that you can relax here."

She smiled but could feel the sudden change of atmosphere. It was more serious now. She didn't like it.

"I ah ... I know how you think of yourself, even after all you've done and will do for us. Before tomorrow, I want you to see yourself the way I and all the others think of you."

She raised her eyebrow. Where had that thought come from? She figured it had been on his mind for quite a while and since their final encounter with Shaw was tomorrow, he had to get this off his chest. It reminded her of Raven somehow, how she struggled with her body, Evie struggled with her mind.

"But I would need to look into that beautiful mind of yours, and you'd look into mine. It won't hurt, I promise you, but it might be ... a lot to deal with."

She wanted to ask him why he would do it. She knew by now how he made it his task to make her feel good about herself and to make her realise she was someone else now. But why would he suggest intertwining their minds? She decided to not show depreciation by questioning his offer.

"I'm willing to give it a try."

Charles beamed as he heard that and took her hands in his. They were sitting just like yesterday, on his couch, facing each other.

"Alright, just relax."

Evie nodded and closed her eyes. She could feel his hands comfortingly squeezing hers in reassurance. She waited for him to invade her mind, and then suddenly, she could feel a soft pull. Charles somehow pulled her into his mind, and she could feel the things he felt at that moment. Maybe she could distinguish between his mind and hers so well because she, too, was a telepath. However, she felt a lot warmer and a lot more at ease than she already did.

Unconsciously, she opened her feelings into his, and for a second, she was unsure of where it was her memories or his. Evie could feel him watching what she just showed him and then she saw it herself. She had poured all the good things that she could remember in front of her. It wasn't much, naturally, and almost nothing was before her awakening, but the strongest emotion of something good she had was a feeling she hadn't known before Hydra put her into cryosleep.

Evie could clearly remember how she had gotten to that particular sensation. Happiness and relief hadn't been something she had learned in her first part of life. If the feeling of aggravation was stolen from you, you lost the sense of hoping for something better. Sometimes you needed to feel hell to know what heaven was. Every time Evie had gotten a glance of hell, Hydra had stolen it from her, so she had never really learned what hope was.

Waking up all alone then, the only thing she could do was hoping for something to happen, and she hadn't really cared about what to hope for, partly because she hadn't known what possibilities existed.

The first time Evie could clearly remember she expected something good would happen to her, was when she researched into this one crucial word and she found his name. And then this sensation blended into one big picture: their first encounter in front of that building, how they all had become a family in such a short time.

They had made Evie hope for more, and this was the brightest memory she had to offer.

She looked quite puzzled when reality came back to her. When she realised that she was in Charles' room, on his couch with him and still holding hands with him. Evie looked into his eyes and he was probably the mirror of her own facial expressions. Wide-eyed he stared at her and then his face was only a hair's breadth away. It felt like a déjà vu and maybe she was only dreaming this, but she didn't care and broke through the short distance.

It was a chaste kiss, and it felt like their first one, but better somehow. Even though they were more pressed for time now than they were yesterday, she had the feeling that they had an eternity to explore the other one's lips, as they had just explored each other's minds. Charles peppered Evie's mouth with feathery kisses as he slid closer to her so that he was able to reach up with his hands and cradle her face with his fingers. Evie leaned forwards and rested her forehead against his as soon as they stopped to refill their lungs with air.

Evie hadn't realised she had closed her eyes, and as she opened them, she was greeted with Charles' light blue ones. With his mouth agape, he stared at her as if she was the most precious thing he had ever laid his eyes on. She felt a little uneasy as he examined her the way he did and averted her eyes, but he reacted quickly and conquered the newly expanded space between them.

She could feel his quick breath on her cheek and his hands that were now in her hair, massaging her scalp. She sighed onto his mouth and he took the opportunity to gently lick her bottom lip. Reluctantly, Evie opened her lips to let him explore the wet cavern of her mouth but soon found that she liked the sensation of his tongue on hers.

Evie couldn't help herself and reached out for him as well. Her hands lightly touched his shoulder and she could feel his lips turning into a smile as he moved his hands to her hips and pulled her towards him. She stilled her movements in shock as she noticed that he was now with his back to the backrest of the couch and she straddled his thighs.

Their breathing was heavy and Charles looked up at her with an apologising expression. "I'm sorry, too fast?", he asked, but she solely smirked and went right back to attacking his mouth.

He gasped and she took the chance to dip her tongue into his mouth for a change. She was inexperienced, yes, but she was also a quick learner so she just mimicked what Charles did only a few moments ago. He seemed to like it though, she could hear his occasional sighs and his hands were on her hips now, stroking her through the fabric of her shirt.

In the meanwhile she had busied her hands on his neck, caressing the soft skin she found there. Unconsciously, Evie began to slightly move her hips and Charles' fingers suddenly clawed into her skin. He was groaning softly so she thought he liked the sensation of her grinding down on him. She continued to do so and his head fell onto her shoulder, releasing a rather loud groan.

Evie smirked and softly caressed his scalp again. She wasn't sure how far he intended to go, but she was willing to give it a try. It surprised her when she felt his lips on her throat. He was rather gentle with her skin there and licked here and there. Evie craned her neck to give him better access and slid a littler closer to him. Charles slightly shuddered underneath her and exhaled against her skin. She stopped moving altogether and looked down at him. He now had put his arms loosely around her hips and tried to get his breathing back to normal.

"Are you sure about this, Evie? I don't want to rush you into anything." His voice was muffled by her neck, but it was clear enough so that she could hear the fear and concern that he had put into it.

She gently cradled his face and turned him back to make him look her in the eyes. "I trust you and ... I don't really want to stop this now. What about you?"

The smile was back on his face and he closed his eyes for a short amount of time. Evie closed hers as well and rested her forehead against his. "You're a remarkable woman, Evie."

She smirked, but didn't know what she should say now. She had no experience with these situations and she really hoped he wouldn't get her silence wrong. Charles, though, didn't give her the time to feel bad about her quietness. He was quick to have his mouth back on hers and then his hands were stroking her again on her hips, but now he pushed the hem of her shirt up so that he could caress her skin there. She reacted quickly with the same intensity. Evie thought it better if she quickened things a little, so she reached for her shirt and discarded herself of it swiftly.

Charles grinned and made short work of his own shirt, tossing it aside carelessly. She hadn't expected him to look as athletic as he did, but it was a nice surprise and she caught herself staring down at his upper body. She bit down on her tongue and focused on his face again. "You are allowed to stare, you know? I can't really blame you."

Evie huffed and busied his lips with hers again. Even though she knew she was only wearing her bra - a white boring one for god's sake - she didn't feel uneasy or nervous in the slightest. She had never been prude about her body, living with soldiers for a very long time had made her indifferent about changing in front of others.

They explored the newly exposed skin of each other with their hands. Evie kissed a trail along his cheekbones and down his jaw to his throat and nipped at his skin the way he had done earlier. She could feel his hands on her back at the clasp of her bra and she was rather surprised at how quickly he managed to get it open.

She sighed as she could feel his fingertips lightly touching the sides of her breasts and she encouraged him to touch her. It was adorable how he tried to be slow and so very gentle with his touches, but she was no fragile doll and she was becoming rather desperate for his touch.

Again, Evie tried to quicken things up and stroked a way from his belly down to his belt. He didn't stop her so she lightly pressed her palm into crotch. He tensed up, but relaxed shortly after and hummed. She took it as a sign to continue so she gently added pressure on the forming bulge underneath her palm.

He sighed. "Let's move to the bed, shall we?"

She nodded slightly and stood up. As she looked into his eyes she could see that the blue of his irises had become a small circle around his pupil. Evie was quite satisfied that she caused him to be in this state. He, the always so calm professor.

He then looked at her with a different expression. Sad, almost. She followed his eyes and saw that he was looking at scars that were scattered all over her skin. He gently touched the newest one, where Azazel had cut into her abdomen. There were a few round scars, caused by bullets. He leaned down and kissed each of them with such carefulness, it almost made her cry. But Evie didn't want to linger on memories that she tried to push into the farthest corner of her mind. She made him stand up and unbuttoned her trousers. Charles got the hint and took off his trousers as well.

As they reached his bed, they had undressed themselves completely. Silently, they decided to take things a little slower from that point on. Evie laid back in his bed, the fabric of his sheets felt so very comfortable on her skin. And then he was on top of her, kissing her lips gently and caressing her body.

Charles tried to memorise every point of her body when she would tense up or silently gasp his name. He couldn't help but feel proud at how he made this strong soldier a moaning mess under him.

He relished the feel of her breasts on his tongue and very gently nipped at the tips of them. Charles knew this night wouldn't be perfect. They didn't know each other's bodies yet, but he hoped they would soon find out what the other liked.

He could feel her becoming restless under him and he wasn't surprised when she shook him off her and rolled on top of him. He found it cute how she always mimicked him after he tried something new. For this night, he thought, it would be enough. They didn't need any stress here, so he let her do whatever she wanted to. Not that he complained, her touch felt great and he started to enjoy himself. What made him speechless then, was when she started to move her hips on his lap. She had done so earlier as well, but they had been fully clothed then. It felt like a whole new sensation now.

After a few moments, however, Charles could feel her becoming unsure of what to do and because he didn't want her to feel uncomfortable with anything, he switched their positions.

His lips now on her mouth again, he stroked her hip and moved to her leg to caress the soft skin on her inner thigh. He reluctantly moved to touch the spot between her legs. He looked into her face to see how her mouth had formed into a surprised 'O'. He smiled and started to gently rub the spot that would make her see stars if he did it right. He studied her facial expressions to see whenever she felt uncomfortable or if something hurt her.

When he felt that she was ready for him, he positioned himself between her legs and looked questioningly in her eyes, even though by now he was painfully hard and hoped dearly she felt the same way.

As Evie noticed that he had stopped his pleasurable ministrations, she opened her eyes to see him watching her, waiting for her consent.

"Please Charles, I want you." That was all he needed to hear. Slowly, he positioned himself at her entrance and very carefully pushed his tip inside. Evie urged him to go faster and moved her hips, but he would enjoy this moment and he would make her, too.

Evie bent her knees as he had pushed himself inside completely and stroked his back. Charles slightly pulled out and waited a second until he thrusted back inside, painfully slow, so Evie caught his lips in an open-mouthed kiss.

By the time he started to get faster, just as Evie wanted him to, he reached for that sweet spot between her legs and rubbed there again. She moaned loudly and for a moment he was afraid the others might hear them, but he shook off that thought and groaned loudly as he could feel himself getting closer. He started to rub her even faster and then Evie's legs were around his waist, the heels of her feet pressing down into his bottom to get him even deeper inside of her.

He could feel her inner walls convulsing around him and heard her gasp his name as she arched her back. He reached his own peak with a grunt and collapsed on top of her.

As they came down from their heights, Evie began to gently massage his scalp. Thinking he must be too heavy for her, he rolled onto her side.

They both felt a little sticky now, but they met each other in a tight hug anyway.

Evie and Charles relished the tender moment between them and almost forgot what laid ahead of them.

 


End file.
